An internet con artist tried to scam people by asking for money to have a stall at a primary school Christmas fair that didn’t exist.

A post was sent to a Facebook residents’ group offering £40 pitches at an event at Parkwood Primary School in Deanwood Drive, Rainham.

It said the fair would take place at the school between 10am and 5pm on November 25 and 26.

However, when people messaged the scammer, the person requested that money be paid into a private bank account.

Four mums replied but became wary and contacted the school and fellow parents who confirmed the individual’s name was not known to them and the fair was not being hosted on the dates claimed.

A spokesman for the school’s parent teacher association (PTA) said: “It all happened so quickly. It has been a very bizarre situation.

“As far as we’re aware nobody paid any money.

“When we were questioning the person on the account, that’s when they were saying you have to pay the money into a personal account.

“That’s when the people who were targeted contacted the school as it sounded a bit weird.

“The school then raised it with us because they didn’t know anything about it either – since then the post can’t be found.

“We even asked the community centre across the road whether they were holding any fairs and they said no.”

“We also don’t know if the person involved is a real person...”

Although no money was exchanged, the PTA hopes that by speaking out it will help prevent similar incidents.

The spokesman added: “Obviously we want to promote this in case the same person tries to duplicate the same scam across different schools, and that’s why I wrote the post.

“Because the PTA arrange events like the fairs, we agreed that we would post on social media to raise awareness, and then the school would share it.

“We also don’t know if the person involved is a real person.

“The name doesn’t ring any bells to anybody connected to the school.

“They were asking for £40 for a stall, so for the four people who they tried to get money out of it could have got them £160.”

The PTA chose not to report the matter to police as no money was exchanged.