Please be aware that our 'scam man' is back and this time moving into central Kingston (unless there are more than one - which is highly likely.) See recent email below from a Canbury resident:
"Today I had an incident when I parked in the Cattle Market car park (lower
level), a man suddenly appeared at my car door, he crouched down at my open
door, saying that his girlfriend is having a baby, there were problems with
the child's heart beat and he needed to get a bus back to Croydon. He also
talked about how he needed a blood test showing me his hands (he had a
tattoo on his hand). I told him I did not have any money. He then ran off.
When I did get out of my car I saw him stop a car leaving the car park and
then he also spoke to some other people on foot.
If people don't give him money - he will move onto easier Wards / town centres - please forward this email to all those living in the area to make them more aware that this rogue is around and is not telling the full story!
(For those of you unaware of the history of this issue - there have been numerous accounts over the past year of a man rushing up to people on the streets / getting out of cars etc. and asking for money with the story that some relative of his is in hospital / needs to get to hospital and he needs to visit them - location of hospital changes - a lot of people have admitted they've given him money so we need to get the message out that this is a scam and we need to stop feeding the scam.)"
With thanks to Nicola Duffey of a neighbouring community group.
It's a pity that scams like this do so much to increase our suspicion of strangers - one day someone may genuinely need help of this kind and we won't give it. (Ed)
