Beware "distraction" thieves operating locally

[kjet2]

Not sure whether distraction is the right term, but this morning I witnessed and tried to prevent the theft of a card being used in the cashpoint on the Tesco forecourt on East Dulwich Road. The two young men had deliberately targetted the elderly gentleman; one come very close to him, said something loudly about not using the cashpoint and then as the gentleman turned round, the young man grabbed the card and moved quickly away. I was coming out of the shop, saw this and shouted at him and was confronted by his accomplice who started uttering gibberish to take my attention away from what was happening, whilst all of the time jiggling his hand in the pocket of his hoodie to indicate that he had a knife or other weapon. They quickly scampered into Fenwick Road, where I later understood that a third person had been waiting in a black Audi Q3 17 or 18 reg and all drove off.

The gentleman was shaken, but not too concerned as this was a prepaid card with ?140 on it; he was simply checking his balance at the time. Police arrived and took his statement. I later checked with Tesco and the monitor in the store to verify CCTV is not working. Police have not contacted me for a statement, even though I provided them with my details, but did at the time emphasise how seriously they take this type of crime....hmmm.

Just to say, be careful out there. It all happens so quickly!

[whodhavethoughit]

It is scary to hear about these things so close to home. What sods and hardly short of a few quad driving a car like that and happy to rob an old boy. Well done to you

[dontbesilly]

Hardly doing it out of desperate poverty either, if their friend can afford an Audi.

[chelseadulwich]

The exact same thing happened to my partner at the tesco ATM at the end of Stansted road (Forest Hill/Sydenham border).

My partner managed to hold onto his card and tried to run after them to no avail.

It was 11am on a Monday morning and they just came out of nowhere. Tried the same technique of trying to distract a Tesco employee that was having his break close by while the other one creeps behind you to grab your card.

So definitely be vigilant.