A number of people have fallen prey to identity fraudsters who have used their details to scam a mobile phone company.

Numerous people living in Folkestone and Sandgate have come forward to tell of how they received unexpected letters from O2 demanding payments on accounts they had not opened.

It is understood the crooks have used names and addresses of more than 15 people to purchase handsets online which have then been intercepted and stolen.

Robert Sissons - who has never had a phone contract and still uses a 20-year-old Nokia - said he was shocked when the letters from the company started landing on his doormat.

"I was at the end of my tether with this," he said.

"I have never been in debt in my life and am genuinely worried about bailiffs turning up on my doorstep demanding money."

Jackie Smith, who like Mr Sissons lives in Sandgate, received more than 20 letters from O2 demanding payment and threatening to pass her case on to a debt collection agency.

"This looks like a large scale issue, rather than a number of individual events..."

She said: "I don't think O2 have treated this seriously enough.

"I have been fobbed off, I have been offered platitudes, but no action until I went onto Facebook and once I had posted this on Facebook, things happened.

"But to have to go to those lengths in order to get this problem sorted out is ridiculous."

Sandgate councillor Tim Prater has been collecting details of the cases locally, and believes the true number of cases could be even higher.

He said: "I'm continuing to pursue this with a number of agencies, as I hope one might eventually take seriously that this looks like a large scale issue, rather than a number of individual events."

An O2 spokesman said: “We take the security of both our customers and the public incredibly seriously and preventing fraud is a top priority.

"We have robust processes in place and always act quickly when we see new patterns of fraudulent activity emerging to help keep our customers safe.

"Criminals committing fraud are increasingly sophisticated in how they scam people and defraud companies, so to tackle this we are continuing to introduce additional security checks, leading cross-industry initiatives, and working with government and law enforcement to protect our customers."

Cases have been referred to Action Fraud, and O2 is rectifying the situation for those affected.