Two elderly women duped by bogus ‘gardai’ calling to their homes
Oldcastle Gardai are investigating the first incident
Two elderly women fell victim to bogus callers claiming to be gardai who called to their homes in the Oldcastle and Rathmolyon areas on Tuesday of last week.
In both cases the women had their handbags stolen after the culprits talked their way into their homes claiming that they were gardai.
Gardai are investigating whether both incidents are linked and it is understood a further similar incident also occurred in the Westmeath area later the same day.
Oldcastle Gardai are investigating the first incident which occurred at the home of an elderly lady in the Crossdrum Lower area between 10.45am and 11.15am on Tuesday morning.
Two males called to the lady’s home pretending to be gardaí, claiming that there had been burglaries in the area and asked to see her money. They proceeded to search the rooms of the house and then took cash from her handbag and left. They were travelling in a black car. A short time later, at around 12.30pm, a similar theft occurred at the home of an elderly lady in the Strany Beg area of Rathmolyon.
Again two males called to the woman's door pretending to be gardai. They claimed that money had been found earlier in the day and they wanted to check to see if it belonged to her.
They entered the kitchen, took her handbag containing cash and left.
One of the males is described as being in his 40’s, of stocky build, wearing a dark jacket, shirt and striped tie. The other male is described as being in his 20’s of thin build, wearing a grey jacket. Both were wearing dark coloured woollen hats.
Anybody who was in the area of either of these thefts yesterday who noticed suspicious activity or vehicles or with any information that could help
Gardai in their investigations, is asked to contact Kells Garda Station (046-9280820) regarding the Oldcastle incident or Trim Garda Station (046-9481540) regarding the Rathmolyon incident of the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Late last year there were reports of similar incidents where again two men called to the homes of elderly people claiming to be Gardai.
On 2nd December, the home of an elderly lady in Lurganboy, Oldcastle was targeted while two days previously two men called to the home of an elderly man in the Castletown area of Rathmolyon claiming they were gardai investigating crimes around counterfeit notes. Fortunately, another caller came to the house before they had gained entry and they fled.
On 19th November, two men pretended to be detectives and called to the home of an elderly man in the Glane Great area of Dunsany and showed him what he thought was a garda badge.
They showed the man a sum of money claiming that they were investigating a crime involving counterfeit notes and they informed him that they needed to see all of his cash in order to compare it with the money they had. The culprits then entered the house and proceeded to take a sum of cash from his bedroom.
On 19th October, two men who were pretending to gardai called to the home of an elderly man in Moynalty. They entered the house and looked around for cash but left empty handed.