Multiple residents report being scammed out of money by Kingsthorpe 'con man'

Several residents have come forward on social media claiming that a man in Kingsthorpe has been making false claims to guilt trip people into giving him money.

On Saturday September 4, a member of the public posted in a Kingsthorpe community Facebook group that they encountered a "potential con man" in the area.

The anonymous post, describing their odd encounter with the man, said: "[He] was leaned against the wall on his phone, looked very calm. He spotted me and started to act frantic, claiming to need to get to Coventry to see his wife who had been in a road traffic accident, asked for money to get there via taxi as he had locked himself out of his house.

"The story became very elaborate. Was in a panic, I tried to help but had no cash so I advised he contact an emergency locksmith service to get back into his home. He said great idea and rushed off on the phone out of sight.

"When I returned to my car, he was in the same spot, he approached me, leaning against the wall looking very calm and eating some lunch. Looked very sheepish when he saw me again.

"Can’t be sure we was a con man but very suspicious behaviour, please be careful."

This prompted a huge response from other residents, who have had similar experiences with a man within proximity to Alexander Terrace in Kingsthorpe.

Other tales they have been told include being locked out of his house and needing money to call his wife, his daughter being in hospital with Covid and needing money for a taxi, his son being in hospital after being run over by a car and needing money for a taxi and losing his van work keys.

It is unclear at this point if all of the cases are linked to one individual and no one has been charged in connection with the incidents as of yet.

Police are, however, currently investigating the incidents and, when approached by the Chronicle & Echo, a police spokeswoman informed this newspaper that the biggest problem is a lot of these individual incidents have not yet been brought to the police's attention so it is proving difficult to build a strong case.

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said: “We are currently investigating incidents in the Kingsthorpe area whereby a man has made up false claims in order to obtain money from various people. Enquiries into these incidents continue to progress.

“We are aware however, that there may be others who have been approached or taken advantage of by this individual but have not yet reported this to us.

“We would urge you to please do so as the more evidence we get, the higher the likelihood of a successful outcome.”

If you have witnessed suspicious activity in the Kingsthorpe area in connection with this incident, call Northamptonshire Police on 101, quoting crime reference number 20000289890.