Insurers are warning customers affected by the Melbourne storm to beware of fraudsters posing as authorised tradesmen.

Major personal lines provider RACV Insurance reports several cases of fraudsters posing as RACV tradesmen in order to sign customers to agreements and take credit card payments for work.

Fraudsters are believed to be active in areas worst affected by the March 6 hailstorm, including the southeast suburbs of Rowville, Scoresby and Lysterfield.

A RACV Insurance spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au it has been alerted to at least five suspicious cases. The company has alerted Victoria Police to the problem and urged customers to ask for appropriate identification.

“Unless such authorisation is made available [customers] should not agree to any inspection of damage to their property or to any works being undertaken,” RACV says.

CGU has also encouraged customers to ask builders and assessors to show identification before giving them access.

A spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au that while CGU isn’t aware of any specific cases, all customers should be aware of the potential for fraud.