Fake police steal cash and jewellery during ‘home visit’ in south-west France
Gendarmerie have issued advice on what to do if supposed police officers visit you at home out of the blue
The Dordogne Gendarmerie has issued advice on how to avoid getting scammed by unexpected house callers
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Police are warning people in France to be alert to people purporting to be police officers who call at your home unexpectedly, after a 94-year-old woman in Dordogne had jewellery and €1,000 in cash stolen earlier this month.
The woman, named Michèle, and living in Douzillac (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), filed a formal complaint after realising she had been tricked by two people who knocked on her door, purporting to be police officers, on March 6.
She said that two people “wearing hats with police markings” told her that she had “been burgled”, and they were doing a welfare check and investigating. The woman was suspicious at first, but finally relented, she told Ici Périgord.
She showed the duo her jewellery box in her safe, to help prove that she had not been burgled. The two then said they were going to “get a camera…but never came back”, she said.
These fake police officers stole €1,000 in cash, and some jewellery, without her noticing, the woman said.
The incident was the second such scam reported recently in Dordogne, after a similar episode in Terrasson.
How to avoid being tricked
The Dordogne Gendarmerie reported the scam on its Facebook page, and issued advice for others to help them avoid getting caught out.
The gendarmerie wrote: “Gendarmes, policemen, EDF agents and many others... There is no shortage of con-people [But] robberies against the elderly are not inevitable.”
They advised that if anyone calls at your home unexpectedly:
Always ask for the business card of ‘“any public official who turns up”
Do not open the door fully
Do not let anyone in unless they show you an official ID or card. In the vast majority of cases, you can refuse if you are in any doubt.
Keep any gates closed and locked
