The Police are often informed of cases where fraudsters approach customers at petrol stations and claim that they have been involved in a theft, a robbery or some other incident that has left them in financial difficulty and in urgent need of cash to make their way back to their home country.
The perpetrators usually speak English and ask their victims for cash, promising to return the money at a later date. Often, the perpetrators accompany their victims to a nearby ATM to withdraw money.
Even if the scammers appear to transfer the money in the presence of the victims, this is not the case.
With this in mind, the Police advise:
- Never hand over cash in such cases.
- Never allow persons unknown to you to accompany you to an ATM.
- If you have any doubts, advise people in need to contact the Police.
- Incidents such as these should be reported to the Police immediately via the emergency number 113.