Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Recipients of the cards say they have not suffered a bereavement (stock image)

Police in New Zealand are investigating a spate of sympathy cards posted to residents in Auckland that claim to contain messages from dead children.

The writer claims to be passing on messages from angels about lost loved ones.

But none of the known recipients of the handwritten cards has recently lost a child, New Zealand media say.

Police said they were aware of "several reports" of the cards and were making inquiries.

The sympathy cards have been apparently hand-delivered to addresses in South Auckland, West Auckland, the North Shore and Ellerslie, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Some of those who have received them have posted pictures of them on Facebook.

One reads: "This message has come to me from the angels who are with you. They wish you to know that your dear daughter is with you in spirit.

"Your daughter is very well and she would like you to be happy to know that you will meet again in heaven some day. Take care and be blessed."

Another says: "I have been told by your angel that you have lost a dearly loved son. He would like you to know that he is very well and happy in his new home. He looks forward to seeing you again some day."

One woman who received a card said on Facebook she thought it was "a sick joke".

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"We found this misguided card in our letterbox. After sharing it on our local grapevine there seems to be a few others who have received similar cards," she wrote.

Another said she thought she should just put it in the bin but added: "It's not so easy not to be offended by it."

Some who left comments agreed that the cards were "sick", but others believed it could have simply been mistaken identity.

"What if someone genuinely means this? There are psychics out there and it seems like a nice message to me? Not a sick joke at all," one person wrote.

Another said: "I don't actually see what's wrong with it. Nothing in the card is threatening or malicious. Probably the person who delivered it put it in the wrong box."