Police are hunting for two fraudsters after an elderly Camberwell woman was conned out of £24,000 in a “cruel and heartless deception”.
The 71-year-old victim was first contacted by a man on December 6 who told her he was a police officer and he needed her help with a sting operation.
He deceived her into going to a bureau de change in the West End to buy Euros and arranged a place to hand them over.
She gave nearly five thousand pounds in Euros to a male suspect in Buckingham Palace Road, SW1, at about 5pm that day.
The woman was then contacted again later that day and went to Oxendon Street, SW1, where she handed over thousands more in Euros at 8.29pm.
The following day, the victim was contacted again and was told her help was needed once more.
This time, she handed over £7,000 in Euros to a second suspect at Cadogan Gardens, Sloane Square, SW3, between 11.30am and 12pm.
In total, the victim was conned out of more than £24,000.
Detectives have now released CCTV footage of one of the suspects in a public appeal to help find him.
The first suspect is described as an Asian man about 5ft 8ins and in his 20s.
DC Michael Esangbedo, of Southwark CID, said: “This was a cruel and heartless deception practised on a vulnerable, elderly woman.
“These men have clearly targeted the victim and I have no doubt that unless they are arrested they will continue to prey on the elderly and vulnerable.
“These men need to be caught and I would ask anyone with information to contact police or Crimestoppers immediately.”
Any witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to call police on 101 or contact via Twitter @MetCC – please quote 3036717/17
To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org