The local London Guardian series newspaper, have recently reported on a police appeal that has been launched. The call for information and witnesses has arisen, following an elderly lady from Chingford had two credit cards stolen and was also scammed out £300. The police have released two CCTV images of men that they would like to speak to in connection with the crime. The two men pictured below were captured on CCTV using the victims card. They did so, on 30th April 2015 in Tottenham.
The elderly lady concerned, is in her 80’s. She had answered a telephone call at her home in Chingford at approximately 10:30am. The man on the other end of the call, informed her that he was a police officer. He went on to inform her that he needed the PIN numbers to two of her credit cards, due to reports of suspected fraudulent activity on her bank account. Not realising that the call was in fact a scam, she obliged and gave the man the PIN numbers. The pensioner was next told to withdraw £5,000 from her local bank. Fortunately on her arrival at the bank, counter staff were suspicious enough of the event to refuse her the money.
Once back home again, the lady informed the fraudster that she was unable to withdraw the £5,000 but he told her that a ‘colleague’ would collect the cards from her home address. Sure enough, some time later a male showed up at her property and took her cards.
One of the cards had been used by the men pictured above and they managed to take £300 out from the cash point. The second card however, was retained by the ATM due to being reported as stolen.
The two suspects caught on CCTV shown above, are both wanted by the police for questioning. The ATM that they were using in the camera footage is at the Post Office in Cambridge Road, Tottenham. They fraudulently used the machine on 30th April between 13:10pm and 13:15pm.
If you have any information that could assist the police with their enquiries then please call the police on 101. Alternatively, you can anonymously contact the charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 quoting ref: 4908523/15.
Alexandra Lockmiths would like to reiterate that a genuine police officer would NEVER ask for any of your personal banking details over the telephone or in person. For help and advice on dealing with bogus callers you can read two of our previous blogs here and here.