A pensioner has decribed the moment a bogus builder demanded almost £2,000 and then tried to take him to a bank to get the money.
The fraudster, who was accompanied by another man, originally offered to mend the pensioner’s roof for £180, but demanded ten times that when the work was completed just half an hour later.
The pensioner, who is in his 90s, said: “A man came to the door saying that he had inspected our neighbour’s roof. He said that he would do ours as well at the same time for a reduced rate £180.”
He continued: “After just half an hour the builder came back saying that work was done, then he started demanding £1,800.”
The stunned pensioner then told the conman that the agreed price for the work was £180 and, in any case, that he did not have such a large sum of cash in the house.
“Then he said that was fine, but he would just take me to the bank This is when alarm bells really started ringing. I called my daughter and explained what was going on.”
The pensioner’s daughter then contacted her son and the pair raced to the house.
“We started questioning him about what he had been doing and why he was suddenly demanding £1,800 for half an hour’s work.
“He gave us all sorts of details about the company he worked for, even an 0800 number and address on the Glasgow Road, but of course there is no road of that name in Dundee.
“Eventually he went away and we called the police,” she added.
A police spokeswoman said: “Both suspects are described as being somewhere between late twenties and late thirties.
“One was 5ft 9in in height, of medium build, wearing a dark green baseball cap, dark green or black gardening style clothes.
“The other was of stocky build, wearing a dark tammy. The men made off in a white van.”
Anyone with information can contact police on 101.