Nicosia police on Thursday said they have arrested two men, aged 52 and 25, as well as a 47-year-old woman as part of investigations into cases where scammers posing as doctors extorted money from people.

The scammers, police said, called people telling them their relative was in need of immediate medical care and that they must hand over large sums of money.

The three were allegedly involved in three separate cases between April 16 and May 4 this year, during which they extracted €18,500.