Another Wanganui woman has contacted the Chronicle after being approached by a company purporting to be selling new mobility scooters, which in fact are second-hand scooters.
Valerie Cullen of Wanganui East was called by a woman representing Mobility Scooter Specialists on Monday and the following day was visited by Derek Abrams,
whose name is on company business cards.
Mrs Cullen said the phone call came "out of the blue", with the woman caller telling her she would be given two free tickets to win a mobility scooter worth $3450.
She said she had no idea why the company called her, because she was not in the market for a scooter.
"I had an accident at home a few weeks ago and injured my leg, but I'm certainly not wanting a mobility scooter," Mrs Cullen said. She said Abrams knocked at her door on Tuesday.
"He never tried to sell me anything, but I reckon that's because my family were with me at home when he called. I think his approach would have been quite different if I had been alone. One of my daughters quizzed him about the scooter he was selling - things like how far it could travel before recharging the battery, that sort of thing. But his answers were really very vague," she said.
Mrs Cullen said the "raffle" tickets she was given say the prize winner will be drawn on October 27 and the winner's name published in the New Zealand Herald.
A number of agencies have been warning elderly people to be aware of an alleged "scooter scam" following reports of similar sales pitches being made in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Taranaki. Marian Dean, disability information service manager at the Whanganui Disability Resources Centre, said another Wanganui woman had been contacted by a man using the same approach, saying she was eligible for free tickets in a prize draw.
Ms Dean said this was the method the scammers used to meet with potential "customers" who were then pressured into paying thousands of dollars for a second-hand scooter that was worth only hundreds.
She said no invoice or receipt was offered as part of the sale.
