A CRUEL conman swiped a pensioner's wallet as he helped a teenager look for his "lost" football.
The elderly man was duped by a 17-year-old who knocked on his front door claiming that a ball had gone into a back garden and damaged a fence.
While the 86-year-old went to look for the ball with the teen, another person sneaked in through the front door of the house, in Dovedale Avenue in Woodford Bridge, and swiped a wallet and other household items.
Police believe the incident, which happened last Friday afternoon (July 10), is the latest in a string of burglaries where the elderly have been "deliberately" targeted.
It comes just a week after the Guardian reported how another Woodford Bridge pensioner had £500 stolen by a thief pretending to be a gardener.
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