A crime victims group is angry at a new council-backed role-play business in which participants pretend to rob a bank.

In the game, called Small Time Criminals, players pay up to $150 a head to stage a mock burglary, in a former Preston bank, for fun.

Its website has a video of beanie-wearing, torch wielding bandits and the headline "Ever wanted to rob a bank? Come rob us."

A flyer invites players to "play as a team of thieves, hired for a big heist and crack the codes on safes, avoid laser tripwires, hack computers and hide from the security guard in our real two-storey ex-bank building."