Tricks Of The Gutter Clean Con Men

Aftermath... The mess left behind at the home of the elderly couple who were almost duped out of £3,000. “I want all households to be aware that this could happen to them, the men were very nice, they looked very presentable."

Conmen try to scam thousands out of blind pensioner and wife: Fraudsters tried to con £3,000 out of a blind Nuneaton pensioner and his wife. The 85-year-old man and his wife, who did not want to be named, have been unable to sleep since the incident , which took place on June 18. They have spoken about their ordeal in a bid to highlight the tricks used and ensure no-one else is duped.

The pensioner said: “He was an Irish chap and he said ‘good morning to you’ he was very nice. He said that they were going all the way up the street, to the top of the street, cleaning gutters. “He said that they would clean my veranda and the bit around the corner for £5, and that they would make a good job of it. “He said he would be back at 9am on Monday and so I said ‘yes’, fair enough if he was only going to charge a fiver. “We normally get the window cleaner to do it, but we haven’t seen him for about two months, so I thought ‘why not’.

“On Monday one of them went up the ladders and came down with bits of wood, grass and bits of black roofing felt with holes in it, “The boss man of them said ‘I don’t know what you are going to do with the state of things up there’. “He said that is it rotting and going to go through next door, and we would have to repair their roof as well. “My wife couldn’t believe it, she said that there is no way all of that rubbish had come out of our gutter.”

The workman was insistent that they needed to carry out repair works to the roof and it would cost £2,850. Fortunately, the pensioner had phoned his grandson while the incident was ongoing and he told the men he was coming over to have a look. He added: “That is when they scarpered, they literally disappeared, I didn’t even have chance to get the registration number on the van. “I haven’t been able to sleep, it has knocked me for six.

“God forbid that they try this on someone else and they fall for it, I hope that by talking about it, I have done my duty for the rest of the public.” All three men were wearing red caps, with oatmeal coloured zip-up jackets with a logo on it. Despite not falling for the con, the couple have suffered as a result of the trick - all of the fascias at the front of the home have been damaged and will need replacing. “I am convinced that they backed the van up to the house and put all of that rubbish up on the roof, and then brought it down,” the OAP added. “They have left a lot of mess and some damage and they didn’t even clean the guttering.”