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A WOMAN in her 70s who was burgled while mowing her front lawn and then defrauded of more than $6500 from her bank account, has warned elderly people to be vigilant.
The woman does not wish to be named but wants to make other senior citizens living alone aware to prevent it from happening to them.
Gisborne police and the woman believe there was more than one person involved, and police are investigating.
The victim’s property has access from the front and back. Her two-metre back fence does not allow anyone to look into the property.
“I had just got home from shopping and I decided to mow my lawns. It was about 10.30am,” she said.
“I went around to the front yard and mowed a small patch of my lawn where I can’t see the backyard. In the five minutes it took, someone went into my house and stole my wallet."
The offenders accessed the house through an open door on her back deck.
She did not initially notice her wallet was gone but after finishing her lawns, she received a phone call. The offender claimed to be someone she was not.
“Honestly, the woman sounded well put together.”
After gaining the victim’s pin number, the offender withdrew thousands of dollars from multiple ATMs around Gisborne and bought more than $1500 worth of clothes.
“They had a lovely old time,” the victim said.
A police spokeswoman said they had not had reports of similar incidents in the area.
“We believe this was an isolated event. Unfortunately, there will always be people who take advantage of more vulnerable members of our community like the elderly.
“Our advice is to never give out details of your bank, credit cards or pin numbers over the phone. No legitimate organisation will ever call and ask you for your pin number.
“If you are out in the garden or working in your yard, lock the doors and windows so that people can't gain entry to your house.”
One of the impediments to locate the offender is a lack of security cameras at ATMs.
A Westpac spokesman said they would not discuss individual cases but said security cameras are installed where needed.
“We take a risk-based approach to selecting which ATM sites are covered by security cameras," the spokesman said.
"There are practical difficulties in installing cameras in some locations.”
Eftpos spending and ATM withdrawals are limited to $10,000 in a single day.
“Scammers use a variety of techniques to extract money and information from their victims, ranging from online ‘phishing’ attacks to physical theft of a customer’s banking details," the spokesman said.
“We recommend customers keep their credit and debit cards in a safe location and advise them not to disclose their pin number to anyone."