RESIDENTS have been given a burglary warning after a bogus letter offering them £20 to attend a fictitious meeting was delivered to their homes.

Police believe the invitation is aimed at conning people into leaving their homes - leaving them as prime targets for thieves.

They will now send extra patrols to the the area - and the venue for the fictional 'Housing Services discussion meeting' - to ensure residents are not caught out.

The letter, which doesn't include a company name or letterhead, has been circulated to around 22 homes on the Sowclough Road estate in Stacksteads.

It asks people to attend the meeting at the AB and D Centre, Burnley Road, Bacup, on July 21, at 7pm, in return for £20, payable on the night.

But according to Rossendale Council the centre has not been booked for a meeting that night.

The letter states: "If you are coming to the meeting, please give us your names and address. We shall confirm your place and any travel arrangements with you in writing before the meeting.

"Please do not come to the meeting unless you have written confirmation of your place."

Shelley Incles, 19, of Sowclough Road, sent the return slip in a freepost envelope last week, giving her name and address.

She is now worried that the information might be used to target her home.

Shelley said: "I only wanted to attend the meeting because I wanted to get the £20. My mum couldn't go because she was working so I said I would go.

"It is frightening to think that somebody could have been plotting to rob our house. This is very serious.

"We don't know what these people were planning or what they plan to do with our details. I gave them my phone number but nobody has contacted me.

"If it was a proper meeting the letter would have had a company name and contact on it but I didn't think of that at the time.

"I hope the police catch these people because they have probably done it to other unsuspecting people. We have been lucky this time but others might not have been."

Nick Stratton, police community support officer, said police would be attending the meeting and stepping up patrols in and around Sowclough Road.

He said: "We have been looking into the letters which we believe are a ploy to get people out of their houses.

"We have had hoax letters in the past but it is an unusual thing to say there is a meeting and offer people money to attend.

"There is no contact for the company so we are currently looking into that. We want to reassure residents that we will be patrolling the meeting to ensure nothing untoward happens and to be on hand if anybody does turn-up to the meeting.

"We will also send officers to the street to reassure residents.

"I would urge anybody who gets a letter like this to ignore it and inform us if they are concerned."

Bill Pearson, of the council's Bacup and Stacksteads estates management section, said: "There wasn't a meeting booked at the AB and D Centre, which started off alarm bells.

"We contacted the council to doublecheck and it confirmed the room hadn't been booked.

"When I saw a copy of the letter it had no letterhead or contact number which is also suspicious."

He added: "The vultures seem to be gathering but I want them to be aware that we are on to them and we are not going to let them get away with trying to commit crime in our neighbourhood."