beware new scam on the elderley (in sevenoaks)

[lameduck]

my brother in law Dave works on the old people buses in sevenoaks.

yesterday took bus load of oaps shopping in sainsburys

whilst loading their shopping in the bus via the back doors,

he heard one of the old ladies yelling [no its not mine go away ]from inside the bus,

a man had got on the bus via the normal front door and was pulling on the ladies bag.

Dave got in the bus via the back door and told the man to pee off. the man was an eastern european

and he left.

Turns out the scam is one of these fellows has a ?5 note in his hand, picks victims calls her

tells her she has dropped the fiver when she thanks him and goes to put it in her purse he snatches

the purse etc. basically works on your greed.

when the man left the bus there were 3 or 4 of these eastern european people hanging around.the carpark

he went back into sainsburys got the security to look aroung the carpark, but they had vanished.

please all be aware and tell all your elderley friends and relations. as we dont want this happening round here

lynne

[annabel42]

A similar thing happened to me some years ago. Several Eastern European women got on a bus which I was on and which was going to Woolwich. They annoyed me constantly by jostling me. After about 10 minutes they pointed to a ?1 coin which they said I had dropped on the floor, which I picked up, having thanked them politely. Good manners are not always appropriate (see manners thread!) They got off the bus. When checking my bag several minutes later, I saw all the cash which had been in my bag had disappeared.

The bus driver dropped me at the depot in Woolwich and gave me a number to phone to report the incident, which I duly did. The person to whom I reported the incident subsequently telephoned me and said that the whole episode had been caught on CCTV. Apparently these women had made no fewer than four or five unsuccessful attempts to steal the cash from my bag before they eventually found success with the ?1 coin ploy.

He said their identities were known to the authorities - the men did the drugs and gunrunning, the women and children the pickpocketing.

Some time later I saw in the press a gang had been rounded up, prosecuted and jailed. Their photographs looked similar to the faces of the people who had robbed me, but I couldn't be sure.

I had been told there was no need for me to go to Court give evidence as the incident had been caught on CCTV and if I were called to Court the likelihood was that I would have a brick thrown through my window or worse.

I am always very watchful, cautious and careful, and was somewhat younger then, so it is not only the elderly these people target.

No-one can ever be too careful.

[caz6868]

outright disgusting.

i once had to confront a man pretending to be a local handyman, knocking on my elderly neighbours door. asked him to leave the man alone he didn't need any gardening done.he was super angry that i had caught him in the act and tried to puff up his feathers.lol so i told my little girl to go upstairs to our home and call my eldest boy who was 23 at the time. i was scared but i was ready to roll.theres no way he was going to abuse an elderly person in my presence.i verbally put him in his place and he pissed off before my son arrived.beware there everywhere lieing about being locked out and needing money to get home or they are ill and need money for electric....tut tut.

[fl0wer]

What I don't like about this is that it generates paranoia. Instead of having a gentle exchange of conversation with fellow humans, trust breaks down and everyone becomes an object to be treated warily.

City life is extraordinary, a truce, considering how small a personal space everyone's got to occupy. Being pleasant and polite at such close quarters makes all the difference between it being bearable, or becoming hellish. Why let criminals wreck the ordinary decency out there?

Re: purses

there is a useful secure kind on a belt, to wear under coat or jerkin.

[Pugwash]

I work professionally in a Health and Social Care position - unfortunately there is a rise of people targetting older people or other vulnaerable people and stealing goods/money. The older person does not aways report the crime as they feel that others may think them stupid/forgetful/demented. Sometimes when you have a conversation on the ward - incidents such as these get told by the person or friends and relatives visiting. Some people are targeted by specific individuals who keep coming back for more - threatening to kill a beloved pet, or harm the person. My lady was befriended in hospital by a so called 'hospital visitor' who discovered she was alone, nearest family outside London who rarely visited. This abuser continued befriending the lady (In ED) doing shopping, taking her to GP etc - once she gained her trust, she gained access to her PIN number, set up various acounts (conned person into signing forms), ordered goods over internet with lady's PIN and had them delivered to lady's house. Social Services became suspicious when lady let something slip the next time she was in hospital and a safeguarding adult investigation commenced alongside the police. Several months later, another elderly in patient was targetted by the same abuser posing as hospital visitor who when realised that this person was not really interested in her, phone the police. Charges were pressed - not sure if she has come to court yet.

[fl0wer]

yes - have campaigned for a long time to get an Offender's Register set up where all can see the names of those who target vulnerable adults.

Believe me I have met a few.

Cowboy builders, befrienders, vulture "care" [NOT] agencies, religious nutters, people who'll sell you crappy hearing aids and special shoes....

[uncleglen]

So the East Europeans are not getting enough work hanging around B and Q and Wickes' car parks for odd jobs so they are resorting to this. And, flower, how can you have a gentle conversation with a fellow human being when they don't speak the lingo (unless it's 'want dvd ?2')?

[lameduck]

trouble is there are many scammers out there

i live probably 200 yards from the nearest pub

there are 40+ houses or more betwween mine and this pub

i have a gate on my property and i opened the door once

to a man who said, i have run out of petrol i am parked down by

the pub can you lend me ?2. has this man knocked on every door?

before he opened my gate crossed my front garden to knock me up to ask for ?2.

I am used to the petrol forecourt run out of petrol ?2, or even need ?2 for electric key.

but they even target you indoors now.

needless to say they are refused by me and told to get a job.

I work i am a pensioner who cannot qualify for my pension until i am 62 and a half.

maybe i should invest in a petrol tin and plead for ?2