GM Police's video: CCTV - Firwood Lane Fraud

Police have released CCTV footage after an elderly woman was conned out of thousands of pounds by a man claiming to be a police officer. Officers were called to a property on Firwood Lane, Bolton at around 7pm 28 May 2020 following a report of fraud. Earlier the same day, a woman aged in her 80s, had received a phone called from a man claiming to be an officer from ‘Scotland Yard’. He stated her card had been cloned and money taken from her account. He then stated she needed to get money from her account. After agreeing to withdraw money from her bank account, a woman claiming to be a ‘courier’ for the bogus Scotland Yard officer visited the victim's address to take the money – which totalled £6,650. Police have released CCTV footage of a woman that police want to speak to following this incident. Inspector Beverley Anderson of GMP’s Bolton District said: “Since this crime occurred we have been following numerous lines of enquiry and we have now obtained and released CCTV footage. "Do you recognise the woman in this footage or have any information that can assist us? "This was a particularly cruel crime which targeted an elderly couple; conning them into handing over a large sum of money. “While many of us would like to think we’d never fall victim to a scheme like this, fraudsters can be very convincing - often targeting people they see to be vulnerable and deploying a range of coercive techniques to compel victims to part with cash or valuables. “If you’ve been contacted by someone you believe was a fraudster, or under circumstances similar to those described above, contact police immediately." Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting incident 2783 of 28/05/2020 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.