Police have warned Redlands residents to be alert for phone scams after Wellington Point woman loses almost $20,000

The resident was the victim of a telephone scam where the criminal alleged to be a Telstra representative to get her personal details.

Cr Tracey Huges said the woman lost almost $20,000 of her life savings.

"This resident is a very articulate and savvy woman who would be one of the last people you would expect to fall victim to this type of activity, however the scammer was very professional, identifying by name from Telstra Victoria working on problematic phone lines seeking access to her home computer," Cr Huges said.

The Queensland police fraud team and the bank were unable to trace the money. The resident will not be reimbursed.

"As you can imagine this is an extremely traumatic and shocking experience, please be careful and extremely diligent with your personal information, particularly over the phone," Cr Huges said.

A QPS spokesperson said phone scams were common, and cold-calling to pose as well known organisations was a frequent tactic for scammers.

"Scammers can be convincing, and target indiscriminately and in volume - anyone is at risk of a scam approach," she said.

"Always consider the possibility an unsolicited call is a scam.

"Never provide an unsolicited caller with personal details such as login or banking details, and never give them remote access to your devices."

Cr Huges said a second resident had reportedly received a call from another scammer posing as a representative from council requesting her personal details.

"She wisely contacted council who advised that this is not something that council would do and she was correct to not give out any information and to call and verify," Cr Huges said.

The police spokesperson said people should be aware of scam tactics, including unexpected phone calls, texts, emails and demands for immediate payment or personal information.

"It is important to take independent steps to verify a caller's identity before providing any personal information or payments of any sort, irrespective of the phone number displayed, or who a caller claims to work for."

"If you receive a call, email or SMS you are unsure about, the best thing to do is to hang up or not respond [and] don't click on any links or use contact details in the received message.

"Instead, verify the information through independent means such as an online search for the organisation's official published contact details."

Anyone who believes they have received a call and made a payment to a scammer should contact their bank immediately and report the matter to the Australian Cyber Security Centre - ReportCyber.

Even if no funds were lost, people are encouraged to report incidents to Scamwatch.