This article is from page 1 of the 2012-04-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
CONMEN impersonating members of the Gardaí have stolen hundreds of euro from vulnerable pensioners in North Clare after a spate of door-todoor scams over the past two weeks.
Gardaí in Ennistymon have issued a warning to local people after a number of elderly Ennistymon residents, all of whom were living on their own, were taken in by confidence tricksters.
One of the victims, well known 90year-old local publican Nan Aherne, lost € 350 in the scam – € 300 of which she had with her at the time to pay for her home help service.
In a separate incident, a woman in her 80s living on the Ennis Road in Ennistymon, lost € 1,000 to the criminals. Gardaí in Ennistymon are investigating both incidents but would not say as yet whether they believed the two incidents to be connected.
In both cases a man came to the house and claimed to be a plaincloths member of the Gardaí conducting routine house calls.
The man, who showed a form of ID, was invited onto the premises and discussed a number of security issues with the women.
In both cases, the women handed over a sum of money to the conman – who claimed he would take it back to the Ennistymon Garda Station to determine if the money was counterfeit. The money was not returned.
Gardaí in Ennistymon confirmed yesterday that they are not currently carrying out any door-to-door callouts in the Ennistymon area. According to one local resident, the con man who had visited Nan Aherne was very convincing.