..IN THE NEWS...IN THE NEWS


MANCHESTER CABBIE CONNED OUT OF LIFE SAVINGS IN JEWELLERY CON - COPS WANT TO SPEAK TO THESE MEN


Police have released images of two men they want to talk to after a ‘hard work- ing’ taxi driver was duped out of his life savings in an elabo- rate bogus jewellery scam. The victim was promised £6,000- worth of items if he helped ‘release’ jew- ellery worth a sup- posed £47,000 with a £15,500 ‘deposit’. But the items turned out to be worthless and the man was left thousands of pounds of out pocket. Greater Manchester Police said the cab- bie, a man in his 40s, was first approach-


ed by a stranger as he waited in the car park of the Holiday Inn Express


at


Manchester Airport on Friday, April 20. The man first asked if the taxi driver would be interested in work driving a church group around during an upcoming trip to the UK. The victim agreed, and met up with the man three days later in the car park of McDonald’s at Wy- thenshawe Civic Centre. But


the


church group visit was never men- tioned again. The conman then started to tell the


agreed and collect- ed £15,500 from his and his wife’s life savings. He then drove to The Christie Hospital in Withing- ton at 2pm to meet the conman, who said his dad was being treated there. The private hire driver was given some jewellery in ex- change for


the Police want to speak to these two men


cabbie about the jewellery offer. He introduced the vic- tim to two other men, one posing as a potential jewellery seller, the other as a potential buyer.


The victim was promised a £6,000 cut if he paid the deposit to release the precious stones - as well as his origi- nal contribution. The taxi driver


money, before the conman left. He waited more than an hour for the man to return, before realis- ing the jewellery he was holding was worthless. He then called police. Det Sgt Alex Wild of GMP’s Tactical Op-


erations Unit said: “This was a complex and unusual con involving three of- fenders. They went to great lengths for this to appear as a legitimate transac- tion involving val- uable jewels. “They have thought nothing of conning a hard-working man out of his life sav- ings and we believe they may have tried the same trick on others. “This is an in-depth investigation involv- ing forensic and covert


evidence


gathering, which can take months to complete.”


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