Con men

[Oma]

Yesterday my SIL was about to go out when he got a phone call ,
This took about 10 minutes,
After his call had finished he looked out of his window and a white van pulled up next door to his widowed elderly neighbour .
Two men got out and started getting stuff out of the van .
My SIL recognised them as two Irish travelers that had conned his neighbour out of money for a shoddy drive two years ago .

As it happens my SIL is good friends with her son ,
He rang him and her son was on the scene within 10 minutes to put a stop to them . Moments later3 more sons turned up .
They had quoted her £650 to power wash her tiny drive , it’s only big enough to get one car on the rest is garden . This lady is almost deaf and not in good mental health ,
These men thought they could take advantage . I think they got the message when 4 of her sons surrounded them .
My SIL said they couldn’t get their stuff in the van quick enough to get away .

Luckily my SIL had taken the phone call or he would have missed them and she would have paid up .

These people have no morals, they are well known in the area twice a year they park their caravans on waste ground go around knocking on doors then disappear for a while leaving all their waste for the council to clear away and leaving people out of pocket .

These are not true Gypsys they are quick buck traveler tinkers getting true Gypsys a bad name .

[Nanto2girls]

Oma, how lucky was that for your SIL to be there.
They have no morals when they would prey on an elderley lady/person.

[Gemini]

Oh Oma, how terrible that people would take advantage of someone like that.

Thank goodness your SIL was around and acted as he did.
The elderly need good caring neighbours. My mum was lucky in that way and her neighbours would contact me if anything was wrong.

[Lizzie48]

The same happened to my nephews FIL, he lived opposite my sister, he is almost blind, they called and told him the slates were off his roof! He fell for it and it cost a fortune, it was in the local newspaper at the time.

[Plantaholic]

I don’t know how they live with themselves, a lovely elderly friend of mine lived on a main road and she constantly had problems telling her she had tiles loose and some so called gas engineers robbed her when she let one in to check, he put the catch up on the door so his partner could get in whilst she went with the first man to check for the leak. then they suddenly left. We had a lot of problems with travellers in the village las year.

[Oma]

They told her when they did the drive that she had signed a contract saying she wanted her drive pressure hosing every year for £650 , well of course with her age and being confused she couldn’t remember .

SIL said her sons are big lads so they must have gotten quite a shock when they all turned up .
Sadly when they conned her out of thousands two years ago there was no proof as it was all cash in hand and the police couldn’t do much , by that time they had moved on .
Obviously they remember who was easy to con so they target them again .

[Daisy]

Oma, there are some truly wicked people about, but thank goodness this time your SIL made sure they didn't con his elderly neighbour out of £650. I hope the neighbour was ok afterwards.

A friend of mine had two very respectable-looking people knock on her door. They were wearing a work uniform with a name, a logo and a website on the shirts. They were well-spoken and polite but explained that one of the ridge tiles on her bungalow had come off, probably in a high wind a few days previously, and another had been dislodged. They had noticed it when they were replacing some loose tiles on a neighbour's house. She sensibly closed the door and checked the website - it looked ok - so she asked for a quote. Needless to say it was high, but because there were already onsite they could do it for, say, half the price right now. She said she needed to check with her son first. She rang her son, he checked the website and realised it wasn't genuine. She told them 'no', and after they'd gone told one of her neighbours. He reported it to the local newspaper (and the police) and it seems they had conned several innocent people already. She handled it well, but was very shaken about how easily it could have been different. She had only just moved into the bungalow after losing her OH a few months previously, so you can imagine how upset she was.

Gem, you must have been very grateful to your Mum's caring neighbours.

[Sum1Ls]

Disgusting and infuriating. I’m afraid that that there are all too many groups and individuals who are exploiting vulnerable people. Whilst I don’t want to accuse Travellers as an entire community of wrong doing, their track record isn’t good. I think I’ve told about their antics on my local Common which recurs every year. What I don’t understand is why the police don’t pursue them as they use the same false tree clearing fliers all over the locality. It doesn’t take a genius detective to gather the evidence. Mind you, it took the Army well over a year to get an exclusion order despite being told to do so by the LA. It cost them (the taxpayers) thousands to clear up the mess.

Has anyone seen a programme I caught while I was ironing the other day? Can’t remember the name, but it was about elderly, lonely women who have been persuaded to sent huge amounts of money to what they thought were attractive men who wanted to marry them. It’s quite compelling viewing and desperately sad to see a woman in her 70s who was widowed and lonely in lockdown, being taken in by what turned out to be a gang of fraudsters who had stolen a photo from FB and sent very plausible messages to build up trust. I’m not sure if it was the police who investigated but eventually just one gang was caught, at least three of them were, while two fled back to Ghana.

It’s very common though. I’ve has messages from random men who have trawled groups I belong to. One was Inner London Ramblers! I searched the messages and at least seven women had been sent the same message. I contacted the admin and the person(s) were banned. But it needs eternal vigilance. That’s one reason why I changed my profile photo so that OH is on it too!

[Oma]

Sum1 you see and hear about these so called romantic con men all the time .
Lonely women go on holiday meet these young Turkish men or Egyptians etc they think these young men love them but they end up conning them out of their life savings or want a British passport .

I often wonder how they can be so stupid ,
Although maybe they are so lonely they will believe anything , who am I to judge .

I have had several friend requests from what are supposed to be from American men but on investigation they are from several African areas .
I never accept of course but there are plenty who do .

Daisy as far as I know SIL said she was fine couldn’t understand the fuss
SIL said the boys were going to talk to her about power of attorney with her bank account , trouble is like my MIL she keeps a lot of cash at home .
We are always on at MIL to bank it ,
We turned her mattress a few weeks ago and there was bundles of money under it ,
B went ballistic with her but she doesn’t listen .

[Daisy]

Sum1, I also don't understand why these people who flagrantly try to con unsuspecting /lonely/elderly people aren't pursued by the police, prosecuted and punished. The cynic would say it's easier to fine, say, speeding motorists or other easy targets.

I saw part of a similar story one morning - a lady conned by a man using an assumed identity and a photo he'd stolen from someone. It left her feeling heartbroken and foolish.

Oma, I've had similar friend requests, usually supposedly American service men! It's worrying that your SIL's neighbour didn't understand what the fuss was. I hope her sons can find some way of keeping her safer. I'd never thought of people keeping large amounts of cash in the house! That is a worry.

[Glammanana]

Oma every year we have a group of travellers in the area who go out and promise to relay drive ways with tarmac and every year there are stories of people being conned massively out of lots of money as soon as they have laid the tarmac and drove away the weeds are growing through as the tarmac is so thin, thinner than a coat of paint,police have been called many times but nothing is ever done to stop them they are not true travellers just con-men who target the elderly.