Topsham police are warning the public about a telephone scam in which a caller impersonates Topsham Police Chief Christopher Lewis and tries to get recipients to reveal personal information.

The scammers claim to be investigating a fraud case involving several large financial institutions and tell the person to reveal personal and financial information to protect them from becoming a victim, police said in a Thursday Facebook post.

After an initial pitch is made, the caller pretends to transfer the call to the police department so the recipient can verify that the caller is legitimate.

“In this case, the scammer supposedly transferred the call directly to someone posing as the Topsham Chief of Police,” Topsham police said in their post. “Another scammer even identified himself as the present Chief of Police by name.”

Topsham police said it would appear the scammers are “doing a little research and will try to lure you into a false sense of security by throwing out the names of familiar law enforcement agencies in your area.”

Topsham police did not specify how many people have complained about the new phishing scam.