Trio arrested outside bank after attempt to defraud pensioner

Feb 15 2010 by Alastair Craig, The Journal

“It could be an unusual vehicle or people you don’t recognise in your community.

“They target elderly people and often ask for excessive sums of money for work to be carried out, or try to con their way into their homes by purporting to be carrying out work, and then steal from them.

“I’d ask residents to look after themselves and their elderly neighbours and relatives and make sure they have the advice they need to prevent them from falling victim to an opportunist thief.”

Officers attended the bank and stopped a van nearby. They arrested men aged 19, 25 and 50 on suspicion of fraud. They have been bailed pending further inquiries into the incident.

Anyone wanting to report suspicious activity or get crime prevention advice can contact police on 0345 604 3043 and ask for your local Neighbourhood Policing team.

In December football legend Jack Charlton launched a campaign to protect elderly and vulnerable people from bogus callers.

The campaign was part of Operation Strongbow – a North East-wide crackdown on doorstep criminals, which has the backing of Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland police forces, as well as a number of private sector organisations, including Northumbrian Water, EDF Energy and Tesco.

This swift response by staff at the bank meant we were able to get to the scene quickly and make arrests