Scam to steal money and phone at Tesco car park in Oakham

A woman is warning people to watch out for scammers after her bank cards and phone were stolen at a supermarket.

Jane Van Herrewege completed some Christmas shopping at Tesco in South Street, Oakham at about midday on Monday (December 4) before returning to the car park.

“I pushed my trolley to the car, unloaded the shopping and got in, putting my handbag on the passenger seat next to me,” she said.

“Someone came roaring up and was saying “You back into, you back into”, in what sounded like an Eastern European accent.

“I got out and the man pointed to my back bumper.”

At that point, Jane recognised that it was likely to be a scam, got straight back into her car and drove away.

Back at home, she realised her purse and mobile phone were missing from her handbag.

“I was only out of the car for about five seconds but CCTV in the car park showed a second man on the passenger side who stole from my bag,” said Jane.

Her HSBC bank card was used almost immediately at the HSBC cash machine in Oakham High Street and £500 stolen from her account. This has since been compensated by the bank.

Another attempt to use her card, at Morrisons supermarket in Uffington Road, Stamford, was thwarted by Jane having cancelled it.

Police are reviewing CCTV footage and are keen to hear from anyone with information. The crime has the reference 23*747156.

Jane would like staff from HSBC, Tesco and the police to meet to discuss how her card appears to have been used to withdraw money without her PIN.

“If I have to use my PIN I’m very careful about who is around me,” said Jane.

“Although Tesco wouldn’t let me see their in-house CCTV footage, they have looked at it and told me there was no one close enough to have seen me put in the number at the checkout.

“I want to know how money was taken out of my account when they didn’t have the PIN.

“I wonder if there is a new way this can be done, or if someone took photos of me at the checkout from quite far away, and then enlarged the images.

“Having spent six hours on the phone at home cancelling cards and sorting out what happened, I don’t want anyone else to suffer this.”