A WARNING for elderly shoppers in the town to be on their guard about credit card fraud was given at the April meeting of Wellington Town Council when it was revealed that local residents were about £4,000 out of pocket,  writes Tony Brown.

PC Mick Dunn said that the elderly victims were being targeted for credit card fraud, their cards being stolen while they were shopping.  The criminals, believed to be foreign nationals, carefully watched the victims while they punched in their pin numbers at hole in the wall  cash machines.  Then they followed them while the victims went shopping, deliberately bumped into them, stole their credit cards from their bags or pockets and then quickly withdrew hundreds of pounds.  The victims were unaware of the theft until they were rung by their banks about the withdrawal of large sums of money.

He urged residents to be careful when they withdrew money and to try to ensure that thieves could not see the pin numbers they were pressing.   Residents should shield the numbers they used.  Foreign nationals were believed to be committing similar crimes across the country.

He also urged traders to be extremely wary if they were asked to change £50 bank notes into £20, £10 and £5 bank notes.

He reported that Boots store in High Street had been targeted by prolific criminals stealing large quantities of cosmetic items.   One of them was a drug dealer who had been arrested and prosecuted for 13 offences.

A serious domestic assault had occurred at Jurston Lane, Wellington on 25 March when a woman, who was 31 weeks pregnant had been nearly strangled after being grabbed by the throat and pushed up against a wall by her former partner who also threw a dustbin through a window.   He had been arrested and prosecuted.

The number of crimes during March had dropped to 47 but there had been a slight increase in shop thefts - up to nine.  Public order offences had dropped considerably to just one - possibly due to the closure of the Kings Arms public house. There had been seven calls to the police about anti-social behaviour.

*Wellington Police Station in Victoria Street is open to the public from 10am to 2pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

But PC Dunn said that if the public wanted to see the police they could call at any time. Someone was there 24-7.  "Don’t run away because the door is locked.  Ring the bell. We are there and we can see you on camera and will come out to see and help you."