Bexley supermarket shoppers targeted by gang of scammers

5:30pm Monday 11th March 2013 in News

A GANG of scammers are targeting supermarket shoppers across Bexley, police have warned.

Four people have had their bank cards and Personal Identification Numbers stolen from checkouts in the borough recently.

The con artists watch unassuming shoppers enter their PIN before another gang member asks if the £10 on the floor is theirs.

The victim then picks up the cash, assuming it is theirs, before the scammer follows them to the car and demands it back.

Using a document to cover the person’s wallet, the con artist then deftly steals cash.

A number of cards have also been stolen through pick pocketing.

Detective Inspector Steve Goodhew from Bexley police said: “We know these criminals apply this scam at ATM cash points and now they are targeting victims at store check outs, often with dozens of shoppers around them.

“From the descriptions given police are currently looking for a group of three to four males and a female who are described as being of Asian or Eastern European appearance.

“They are organised and very skilled at what they do. So much so that one recent victim was unaware of the theft until they got their bank statement.”

Comments(20)

simonwebb70 says...
5:48pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Just one more reason to get out of the EU and abolish the Human Rights Act. God help us when the Romanians and Bulgarians arrive!

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jay2180 says...
6:41pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I want them to try it on me....i would be the one looking at prison..

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Gypo.Joe says...
8:17pm Mon 11 Mar 13

jay2180 wrote:
I want them to try it on me....i would be the one looking at prison..
Yea yea cause you're a black belt in origami.

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jay2180 says...
8:43pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Na..i'd just knock the f#@k out the thieving scum...simple gypo lad.....!

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Gypo.Joe says...
9:10pm Mon 11 Mar 13

jay2180 wrote:
Na..i'd just knock the f#@k out the thieving scum...simple gypo lad.....!
Oh yea. 3 or 4 males plus some old skeezer bird onto you Billy Sollocks.
Ya family will be booking you an appointment up Falconwood you idiot.

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pamela8 says...
9:21pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Well it has happened to me a few weeks ago in woolwich..They tried to pick pocket .but because I can,t stand anyone to close I knew what was happening..They were persistant though,so I just said in a loud voice ..just try it again and i will snap your fingers off...They ran off....cowards.

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Teaspoon says...
10:49am Tue 12 Mar 13

Obviously we'll all be keeping an eye out, but I suggest if we see this happen we should shout in a nice loud voice "you're the scammers that are in the newspaper" and get them caught before it happens again.

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mcreedy says...
11:22am Tue 12 Mar 13

They had to be foreigners. On the scam while claiming all sorts of benefits no doubt. Send them back to where they came from andf dont let them back in the country.

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Slonik says...
12:01pm Tue 12 Mar 13

What Blair didn't mention, when he was opening the floodgates and telling us all how wonderful it'd all be, is that mass immigration would mean that in addition to our very own crooks, we'd have scum from around the globe to deal with.

Oh and before anyone tries to put words in my mouth, the above doesn't contend that all immigrants are scum. Far from it. It suggests we have enough of our own to handle without importing more, so why didn't Blair and his chums ensure that we'd be able to keep out the crooks and scroungers before opening the gates? Answers on a postcard to: Out of Touch Politician, 1 Ivory Towers, Cloud Cuckoo Land.

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PaulErith says...
4:22pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Probably being really stupid, but can someone explain how this works because I really don't get it from the description. It says that they demand the cash back and then "Using a document to cover the person’s wallet, the con artist then deftly steals cash.".

I'm confused, why has the scammer got the person's wallet? Even if someone did say that a tenner I had picked up was their's, I wouldn't give them my wallet - I may give them back the tenner, but at no point would they have their hands on my wallet.

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jay2180 says...
6:31pm Tue 12 Mar 13

I definately reckon gypo lad knows more about these incidents than he is making out....his name don't do him any favours..!!

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Smanf! says...
10:09pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Scumbags. Deport them.

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R_U_Serious says...
2:28pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Teaspoon wrote:
Obviously we'll all be keeping an eye out, but I suggest if we see this happen we should shout in a nice loud voice "you're the scammers that are in the newspaper" and get them caught before it happens again.
And point at them. This country needs more shouting and pointing.

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jay2180 says...
9:28pm Wed 13 Mar 13

LOL...Well pop round mine sometime,and stop bothering my 90 year old mother and i'll teach you proper English......but don't wear your palace shirt....

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Gypo.Joe says...
11:07am Thu 14 Mar 13

Ya old Ma trys to teach me dah Engerish Jay, I have to tell her " dont talk wiv ya mouth full old girl "


Palace .......ROFLMAO sonny.

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Locked an Loaded says...
9:48am Fri 15 Mar 13

Loads of romanians at chelsea match last night turns out that chelsea suspended ticket sales after discovering romanians were buying up tickets in the chelsea supporters end......
thing is these romanians were already in our country so they wernt the lot from official supporters group back in romania which goes to show you how many of this next batch of european freeloaders have already made it in to my country......
theres a e.petition going if you lot want to sign it to stop the next batch of romanian an bulgarian spongers coming over here.....
get over 100,000 e.petition votes an we can force the muppets in parliment to at least discuss the diabolical situation.....
do a web search on government e.petitions an scroll down to "stop the rot" lol.... you get the gist of it lol :)

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ade12001 says...
10:06am Fri 15 Mar 13

Locked an Loaded wrote:
Loads of romanians at chelsea match last night turns out that chelsea suspended ticket sales after discovering romanians were buying up tickets in the chelsea supporters end...... thing is these romanians were already in our country so they wernt the lot from official supporters group back in romania which goes to show you how many of this next batch of european freeloaders have already made it in to my country...... theres a e.petition going if you lot want to sign it to stop the next batch of romanian an bulgarian spongers coming over here..... get over 100,000 e.petition votes an we can force the muppets in parliment to at least discuss the diabolical situation..... do a web search on government e.petitions an scroll down to "stop the rot" lol.... you get the gist of it lol :)
yes signed it my friend going on to a few other sites to spread the word then im going twittering!

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simonwebb70 says...
1:17pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Enoch Powell predicted this would happen in 1968 and it doesnt look like immigration is going to be dealt with responsibly anytime soon. Our MPs have failed us massively with immigration, our current Laws not being fit for purpose, the EU and in particular the Human Rights Act. UKIP will become a major party going forward

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Soft Alan says...
8:32am Sat 16 Mar 13

I didn't know Dale Winton had started up supermarket sweep again?

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claireclc says...
11:51am Sat 16 Mar 13

Pickpockets are everywhere. I was buying my lunch in Maidstone the other day and realised I was surrounded by a group of EE's. I turned around sharply and caught one of the dirty scum bags pointing at my bag, which was unzipped, with my phone and purse on show. I quickly got the hell out of there fast and now just take a fiver in my pocket when I'm out at lunch and nothing else

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