On May 6 around 3pm she answered her telephone and was told by a woman that she was ringing on behalf of the government.

"You could tell it was from a call centre. She was hard to understand but said that I had been overcharged on various government bills, like water and electricity and was owed $7260," Mrs Bonsor said.

"She asked me if I would like to claim that money, and if so, would I like it to be paid to me by cheque or into my bank account.

"I said that I would like it to be paid by cheque."

Mrs Bonsor said the woman offered the opportunity to speak to manager number one, Gerry Smith or the second manager, Richard Williams and gave an identity number of SV249 and a phone number to call.

"I rang the phone number and spoke to Gerry Smith. He said that he was from the department of finance, which was funny because she said she was from the reclaims department," Mrs Bonsor said.

"He said the offer was being made to 170,000 people, which is interesting because I'm sure I heard that number used recently on the news to say that about 170,000 pensioners would soon be better off - maybe that's where they got that number from.

"He said that for me to be able to receive the money I would be required to pay $285 which would be refunded to me at the post office and then I would get my money."

Mrs Bonsor then contacted Crime Stoppers to alert them to the scam.

"They said they were aware of phone scams but weren't really interested in following it up. The police could just call the phone number I gave them if they wanted to find these people," Mrs Bonsor said.

Mrs Bonsor contacted the Manning River Times to alert the community.

"If I had been suffering from dementia I could have been caught out. It's really concerning," she said.

The Manning River Times sought to make contact with Mr Smith regarding the phone call to Mrs Bonsor.

The phone number provided to Mrs Bonsor diverted to a message bank that advised, "The person you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message after the beep."