Scam artists will go out of their way to deceive you, but with a little common sense you'll save yourself a tonne of stress and money.

Police are asking locals to keep their personal details secure after a number of incidents involving fraudsters claiming to be Microsoft employees were reported across the country over the weekend.

It was part of a 24 hour blitz that saw a number of Kiwis around the country contacted by scam artists claiming that viruses had been detected on their home computers.

On Saturday, two central Otago residents were deceived out of thousands of dollars by fraudsters claiming to be Microsoft employees who then requested access to their computer and credit details.

While on Sunday, Bay of Plenty Police also received five reports from people who had received suspicious phone calls under similar circumstance.

'Fortunately all five people recognised it as a scam and hung up,” says police.

'We don't want to have anyone caught out by this, so please make your friends and family aware that this scam appears to be active again in our District.

'Whatever the approach by the caller, our advice is to never provide details relating to your computer to strangers over the phone.”

During these call the fraudsters asked for remote access to the victim's devices to fix the problem, while some were also asked for their credit card information.

For more information and ways to protect yourself from scams visit the Consumer Affairs website at: www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz