Acting Sergeant Brett Eden, from Daylesford Police Station, said a member of the community had received a phone call from the station's phone number shortly before 2pm on Thursday.

The caller had 'spoofed' the police station's phone number in an attempt to scam the victim, saying there were outstanding warrants for their arrest.

The victim was asked to buy multiple iTunes gift vouchers to the value of $1500. She believed it must have been legitimate as her phone's caller ID showed the call was coming from the local police station.

Due to supermarket policy, the victim was only able to buy five gift cards amounting to $500.

Enquiring why she had purchased so many gift cards, a Coles employee alerted the woman that she may be being scammed. While she went straight to the police station, unfortunately the gift cards cannot be returned.

The incident has prompted police to issue a warning following a spate of different scams across the region in recent months.

Some have involved scammers asking for personal information or passwords to reset services such as bank accounts following 'suspicious activity', while other times they frighten people into sending money they 'owe' to the tax office - saying that if they don't, then police would act on an arrest warrant.

Sometimes the scammers do hack phone numbers so the call appears to come from a government agency.

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Acting Sergeant Eden said police would never demand a monetary sum or gift voucher to clear a warrant and no government agency would ask a community member to pay off a debt in this way.

"Police just don't operate in this way," he said.

If a community member does receive a call about an outstanding warrant and a monetary demand is made, Acting Sergeant Eden said not to share any personal details, to hang up and contact your local police station.

Similarly, if a cold call or email is received from someone purporting to be from another government organisation seeking money or personal details, don't share any, hang up and call the institution back via their publicly listed phone number to verify the claim.

Scammer activity, which has left some of the region's residents tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket this year, led police to issue a warning not to give out passwords, remote access to computers or any personal information when cold called or emailed by someone purporting to be from a government agency earlier this year.

The Criminal Investigation Unit is investigating the Daylesford incident.

If you have lost money as a result of this type of scam, report the matter to your local police station.

Scams can also be reported to Scamwatch at: https://bddy.me/37wryYm