Detectives have issued a warning after bogus callers escaped with almost £2,000 from elderly people's homes.
In one raid, an 88-year-old woman lost £1,060 when she let three men claiming to be from the water board into her home in Gobions, Basildon.
An hour earlier an elderly couple - a man with dementia and a woman who is deaf and blind in one eye - lost £750 to two men also claiming to be from the water board.
They knocked on the couple's door in Friern Gardens, Wickford, claiming they needed to investigate a leak.
The conmen who called at the house in Basildon were white. One was in his twenties, 5ft 10ins to 6ft tall. He had dark curly short hair. He spoke with an accent the victim was unable to place.
The couple duped in Wickford gave a similar suspect's description to police.
Witnesses or anyone with information can call Basildon CID on 01268 244009.
Published Thursday December 18, 2003
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