Scammers are trying to cheat residents by claiming they will kill a potentially pesky squirrel in exchange for money, Farmers Branch police say.

In the past couple of days, scammers have been targeting elderly people and telling them they saw a squirrel run inside their attic, police said on Facebook.

For a couple hundred dollars, the scammer will go into the homeowner's attic and return with a dead squirrel, police said.

"However, the squirrel has been dead for a while and never was in their attic," police said.

The homeowners targeted so far appear to be parishioners at Royal Haven Baptist Church on Valley View Lane, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.

Pastor Rick Dorman asked members of his congregation whether any of them had been visited by two men dressed as roofers who claimed to have spotted a squirrel run down their pipes.

"And when I did, it seemed like all of the hands went up," Dorman told NBC5.

One woman paid for the service, then discovered the squirrel was already petrified. The men fled before she could get her money back.

Dorman told NBC5 he believes the scammers were using the church's directory, which contains contact information and photos, to find victims. The directory is now being kept in a secure place.

The scam isn't exactly new.

In 2010, two East Dallas residents reported scams that started with a promise to fix something so squirrels wouldn't get in, or catching a loose squirrel in an attic.

When one man came down from the roof of a house near White Rock Lake after spotting a squirrel, he told the resident he could fix some loose boards. He later handed her a bill for almost $3,000.

The woman tried to negotiate but said she felt intimidated and gave the man a check for $2,100. He cashed it before she could stop the payment.