This is a well known scam that targets single women in cars – either arriving back home or just parked in a quiet area or about to leave a multi storey car park.

The target is approached by a man with an East European accent who warns her of a problem with her car.

He points out something wrong at the back of the car – could be trailing wires, something that looks like it’s fallen off underneath the car etc. Anything the scammers can easily add to the car unseen.

While the first scammer keeps the woman occupied worrying about car problems, a second man appears and his job is to rifle the handbag on the passenger seat for credit and debit cards and notes. If there’s nothing valuable in the car or she is carrying her handbag – they either give up or snatch the bag.

Either way they typically get away with payment cards and cash.

A Surrey woman recently suffered this scam where she had just driven into her driveway and a man pointed out loose wires at the back of the car. The accomplice got her payment cards and stole £500. Luckily for her they also tried to take out £2,000 from her account but the bank blocked it.

Stay safe.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.