Police are appealing for information after a pensioner was targeted by fraudsters attempting to steal cash from her home.
On Thursday, August 7, two men claiming to be from the council approached the 77-year-old woman at her home in Lower Broad Street, Dagenham.
They said they needed to pour chemicals into her drains to counteract odours from a chemical spillage nearby.
The first man told the victim he was working for the council and the man with him was a “troubled individual on work experience”.
Police said they made repeated attempts to “confuse and distract the victim”, but failed to take any cash. Now they want to hear from anyone who can put names to the descriptions they’ve issued.
The first man was white with tanned skin, aged 30 to 40. He was 5ft 6ins, of slim build, and had with short, black receding hair.
He was clean shaven and wearing glasses with round frames and tinted lenses.
He wore a Barking and Dagenham Council branded high visibility jacked with a black shirt and black trousers.
He also had a photograph ID card on a lanyard around his neck that carried the LBBD branding.
The second man was also white, in his 20s, and overweight, with a pale, fresh-faced complexion, police added.
He was about 5ft 5ins tall and clean shaven, with dark blond, shoulder-length, wavy hair.
He spoke with a faint accent but detectives can’t be specific about where from.
He was wearing a dark blue and grey shirt with grey trousers.
Met Police are urging anyone with information to call Det Con Ben Lucas on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111, quoting reference 5112758/14.
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