An elderly couple from Honiton have a been swindled out of thousands of pounds after they were contacted by men pretending to be detectives.
An elderly couple from Honiton have a been swindled out of thousands of pounds after they were contacted by men pretending to be detectives.
The couple received numerous calls from a withheld number where a man claimed to be a detective working undercover at the local police station.
The man also claimed he was part of a national operation to identify counterfeit money within the local area and advised he was ‘recruiting’ the victims as undercover civilians to gather money to be checked.
On Wednesday 4 December, the man asked the victim to gather seven thousand euros which was collected later that evening by an unknown man. He has since been described as being Afro-Caribbean.
On Thursday 5 December, a similar incident occurred where the victim was asked to gather more money. The victim’s wife drove to several local banks and building societies to withdraw approximately eleven thousand pounds.
That evening, a different man attended the victims’ home and collected the money. He was described as being a Middle Eastern male. Police were later alerted and an investigation was launched.
Enquiries are currently ongoing including house-to-house enquiries and checking local CCTV. Anyone with information specific to this case is asked to contact police on 101.
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