POLICE WARNING! Distraction Thieves Steal Credit Card, Clone It: Spend Thousands In Hours
Written by adminChris on May 6, 2011
Thieves who distracted a Gloucester man by asking for directions while they searched his car managed to clone his card and spend thousands on it within hours.
Police are urging people to be on guard against similar scams following the incident at a Gloucester supermarket earlier this week.
It happened at about 10.20am on Tuesday, May 3 at Tesco in St Oswald’s Road.
The victim, a 63-year-old man from Gloucester, was walking to his car when a man approached him asking for directions and showing him an atlas on the bonnet of his car. The victim was only distracted for a few seconds but it is believed that in that time other accomplices entered his car and stole his wallet.
Shortly before 2pm the victim received a phone call from his bank telling him that his card had been used for numerous transactions in Gloucester and other parts of the UK valued in total at £2400. Police believe the offenders copied and cloned the victim’s card.
The man who distracted the victim is described as white, 6ft tall, with glasses. He spoke with an Eastern European accent and wore dark clothing and a grey flat cap.
Anyone with information on this incident should call Gloucestershire Police on 0845 090 1234, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting incident 297 of May 3.
