Tararua District Council is warning that someone is pretending to be a council employee to trick their way into residents' properties. A woman was pulling the same scam in Palmerston North last week.

The Tararua District and Palmerston North City councils are both warning of imposters pretending to be council employees.

The Tararua council posted on Facebook this Thursday that it had received reports of people claiming they were council staff who needed access to properties for official-sounding reasons.

Both councils assured the public that legitimate council staff will always present identification and would arrange visits to properties for inspections rather than just arriving on the doorstep.

People were urged to ask for identification before letting anyone in and to alert the councils or call the police on 105 if the people purporting to be council workers seemed suspicious.

The city council posted its warning on Facebook last Wednesday, after receiving several reports that week about a woman pulling this scam.

The woman, described as professionally dressed and in her mid to late-20s, has used explanations such as offering to check people's insulation or recent building work is up to code in an attempt to gain access.

The city council has referred the reports of the imposter to police.

A Tararua council spokesman told Stuff he couldn't immediately give a description of the Tararua imposter.