Police are trying to track down thieves who have taken thousands of pounds from elderly victims at Nottingham banks. One incident saw someone being pressed up against in a lift whilst an envelope of money was taken from her bag.
Nottinghamshire Police has now released images of people who they want to speak to as part of their investigations, following the incidents in late July and early August. The first incident took place at the HSBC bank on Clumber Street between 12.40pm and 12.50pm on July 22.
A 61-year-old woman had withdrawn a large sum of money and entered the bank's lift when she was followed in by two suspects. One of them stopped the victim from leaving the lift by crouching down to tie her shoelace, whilst the other then pressed up against her to take the money from her bag.
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The second incident took place at the Nationwide Building Society in Clumber Street at around 1.20pm on August 4. A 76-year-old victim had once again withdrawn a large sum of money before boarding the number 25 bus to Carlton.
Two female suspects followed her and one of them purposefully fell to the floor in the victim's view. Whilst being helped up, the other suspect dipped into the victim's bag to steal cash.
Both victims say they have been left traumatised by the incidents, with one of them describing their body shaking afterwards. Detective Constable Natasha Ullyatt, who is investigating the incidents, said: "These were horrendous crimes committed on two elderly victims in our city centre.
"The suspects have used distraction techniques to steal large amounts of money from the victims, which in total equates to more than £8,000. This is money that will not be reimbursed by the banks and these victims have faced hardship as a result of these thefts.
"There is no place in our city for this type of behaviour. We have been working hard to find those responsible and spent hours combing through CCTV to track them down.
"We hope that by releasing these images today, the public can help us further with our inquiries. It is important we find those responsible quickly so no one else falls victim to this type of distraction and loses large amounts of money.
"We would also encourage people not to withdraw large amounts of money from their banks. If you must then please ensure you are doing so safely."
Any information can be left by calling the police on 101 quoting 524 of 4 August 2022 for the Nationwide incident and quoting incident 481 of 1 August 2022 for the HSBC incident. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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