Elderly victims terrified by card thieves, another has heart attack

Police have released footage of a person sought in connection with thefts from elderly people.

An elderly couple are "terrified" to be in their own home after thieves followed one of them from a supermarket and broke in while they slept to steal their Eftpos card.

They are among a growing number of elderly victims believed to be targeted at Auckland supermarkets.

Police say about $10,000 has been taken from bank accounts after one of the group spies on the victims at checkouts and notes their Pin numbers, then follows them to their car or home and distracts them while another steals their wallet or bank card.

One man who's just turned 70 went grocery shopping at Sylvia Park Pak'n Save on a recent Saturday and was targeted.

Police believe that someone watched him enter his Pin, then followed him home and waited until he and his wife had gone to bed.

The thieves broke in and stole his cards as the couple slept.

The man has hearing difficulties and his wife was sleeping deeply so neither heard a sound.

"They took the entire shirt," the woman said. "The cards were in the pocket. It was the same one he was wearing at the supermarket. It was on a chair in the bedroom.

"The first we knew about it was when the bank phoned us the next morning. It was so freaky."

The thieves had withdrawn $800 just before midnight on Saturday and a similar amount on Sunday morning.

"It's terrifying," said the woman, who did not want her name published in case the thieves recognised her.

"They came in in the middle of the night. It's very traumatising. It's horrible. I went to pieces the next day. I just started howling my eyes out."

The break-in is thought to be connected to a number of similar incidents across Auckland.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stan Brown said five women aged 71 to 86 had been ripped off by three offenders.

Mr Brown said one of the alleged thieves, a woman in her 20s, stood behind victims at the checkout.

"As the elderly woman enters her Pin number, the offender is watching and either filming it with her own cellphone or making a note of the victim's Pin number into the cellphone."

The victim is then followed home and distracted by a man knocking on the door asking them to come out of the house and check for a missing car, or to investigate a strange noise. Then a second man enters the house and steals the victim's wallet or bag.

Coralie Lush's 86-year-old mother was approached by the offenders in the Countdown carpark in Milford.

She said that when her mother realised her wallet was missing, she had a heart attack and was rushed to hospital.

"It was a real deliberate, manipulative and very, very cold and calculated theft," said Ms Lush. "Mum's not handling this very well."

Ms Lush said elderly people were "sitting ducks" for the thieves.