A shop owner has spoken out after a fraudster scammed her staff – and the police have published security camera pictures to try to identify the suspect.
Sussex Police said that the conman struck at about 11am on Saturday (20 June) at a shop in George Street, Hove.
Harriet Dean-Orange, 39, who owns Harriet’s of Hove, said on social media: “A conman came out of his white van, came into the shop, pretended to be speaking to me on the phone, making an arrangement for my staff members to buy something from him – some shelving.
“Took cash from my staff members and then proceeded to obviously not bring in the shelving and disappeared.”
She said that it was “just another day, running a small business” and added: “Please share this message and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else locally.”
She added that he was a white male in his fifties, with grey clothing, about 6ft tall, of medium build, with dark, greying hair and with a slight cockney accent, and a gruff voice.
Sussex Police said: “Police are working to identify the man in the images after a fraudulent incident was reported at a business in Hove.
“On Saturday 20 June at around 11am, a man was reported to have entered a shop in George Street and approached staff members.
“He then fabricated a story, alleging that he was delivering pre-ordered goods that were to be paid for on delivery.
“He went on to pretend to speak with the shop manager by phone to gain the trust of staff before he was given money and fled the scene.”
One witness said: “While I was in Harriet’s of Hove this morning a horrible little man came in and conned the young girl who was serving to take a lot of money out of the till and give to him.
“All the time he was pretending to be talking to Harriet on his phone, saying things like ‘I’ll drop the receipt round later’ and using phrases like he knew her and was very familiar to her.
“He flustered the girl when she asked if she could serve me first and he said he was in a hurry because he had other deliveries to make.
“I had no idea this was a scam and it wasn’t until Harriet posted on Facebook this afternoon that she had been scammed by this man.”
Sussex Police added: “We would like to speak with the man in the images, as he may be able to assist in our ongoing inquiries.
“If you have any information to help us identify him, or if you witnessed anything suspicious, we ask you to come forward.
“Information can be reported online, or by calling 101 quoting reference 589 of 20/06.”
