This was a police warning so please take care when drawing money out of the hole in the wall.
Although the following incident happened in West London, to a women, it could as easily have happened to a man. These gangs tend not to discriminate. Undoubtedly, it will not be long before they move further afield to find victims so please be cautious when using cashpoint machines.
Just as a quick warning to you - about a week ago a women got assaulted at an HSBC cashpoint in Hanover Sq at lunchtime (broad daylight, with a queue behind her) and £200 was taken from her account. Turns out there's a gang of very smart Romanians (in her case it was 2 guys and a girl) who are posing as free-newspaper-giver-outers - they waited until she had keyed in her pin and hit the 'Get Cash' option before coming up from both sides, jostling her and thrusting their newspapers at her, trying to persuade her to take one.
Behind the papers, the guy on her left hit the £200 button and the girl on the right grabbed the cash - they were so fast that no one in the queue even saw them take it, and just assumed they were harrassing her to take a paper (her card got returned to her out of the machine). It was only when she went into the bank to tell them there were people harrassing cashpoint users and to double check they hadn't taken any cash that the theft was realised. She went to the police and it turns out they've been targeting women around Mayfair and Goodge St and elsewhere around Oxford Circus with a huge number of incidents in the past couple of weeks - all in broad daylight and in very open places, and always taking £200. The advice is to use cash machines inside banks or get cashback if you're in these areas.
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... but will the bank believe me ?
Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get a few bits and pieces has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you !
Here's how the scam works:
Two seriously good-looking 20-21 year-old Romanian girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the boot.
They both start wiping your windscreen with a rag and Windolene, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say "No" and instead ask you for a ride to another B&Q or Wickes.
You agree and they get in the back seat.
On the way, they start having sex with each other. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and performs oral sex on you, while the other one steals your wallet.
I had my wallet stolen March 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, & 24th. Also April 1st, 3rd, twice on the 7th, three times just yesterday and very likely again this upcoming weekend.
;)
The bird that gives out the londonpaper outside Rymans in Holborn is rather cute tbh.