People are being urged to contact police if they have been a target of phone scammers pretending to be police officers.

Police are investigating a number of incidents where the scammers tell the victim their family member has been arrested.

They then demand a large amount of money, or iTunes vouchers, to release them from custody.

Detective Sergeant Bridget Doell from the Financial Crime Unit said the Indian community in particular is in the scammers' sights.

"This is not a way that any agency and certainly not the NZ police would never on any occasion make such demands of people over the phone," she said.