KEY POINTS:
Elderly women living alone are being targeted by a bogus police officer, stealing their bankcards and PIN numbers to withdraw cash.
Four cases in the past month have been reported to police in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga, with the most recent as last week when an 88-year-old woman had $4000 stolen.
Onehunga acting senior sergeant Grant Harris described the man's actions as "disgusting".
He told the Auckland Central Leader the man went to the woman's home on Thursday claiming to be a detective investigating fraud,
He asked to see her bank card in order to photograph it, then at some point during the visit stole the card, .
"He also asked for her PIN which she initially refused," Mr Harris said.
"But he was insistent so in the end she gave it to him. The next day $4000 was gone from her account."
Mr Harris said police had identified possible suspects and were looking for them.
Thursday's incident was similar to three other cases this month involving Onehunga women in their 80s.
- NZPA
