‘Distraction’ thieves target Castlebar, Westport shops

‘Distraction’ thieves target Castlebar, Westport shops


Áine Ryan

Professional thieves last week targeted a Westport shop defrauding it of around €400 in a clever scam that gardaí have dubbed ‘Distraction Thefts’.
The Mayo News can reveal that one of these sinister groups successfully hit a shop at the Westpoint centre last week, preyed on a young employee, and walked away with hundreds of euro.
Local Garda chief, Superintendent Michael Murray confirmed yesterday that he was aware of a raft of such incidents around Mayo, citing the fact that similar thefts were recently carried out in county town, Castlebar.
“I am aware of such distraction thefts.
The thief usually approaches the cash register operator and asks to change €400 worth of €50-euro notes into €20s. When they have been given the €20s, they then ask for some of the notes to be further changed into smaller notes or cents.
During this transaction they secrete some of the money exchanged, confuse the employee, and then claim they have been shortchanged and ask for the original notes back,” Supt Murray explained.
He strongly recommended that managers and shop owners advise their staff not to engage in such financial interactions.
“I am advising managers and their staff to simply decline to engage in such transactions and to refer the persons to the local bank and post offices.
“I urge a fast rule about this for all businesses to stamp out such fraud in the future,” he said.