benchpeg - News - Images of Jewellery Scammer Obtained

Images of Jewellery Scammer Obtained

benchpeg has been sent images of a person Police would like to have a conversation with. These images are published with the authorisation of the Police and were sent in by a store in which a substantial theft had taken place.

benchpeg would like to stress that it does not assume that the person pictured is the jewellery scammer, but would however re-iterate that there is a crime number attached to the spate of jewellery thefts that have taken place in the Central London area over the past couple of months.

The Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a lady who fits the descriptions sent in by a variety of galleries and shops as documented below:

Early August, South London:

“A middle aged black American woman entered a gallery in central London and spent a very long time considering the purchase of jewellery. She said that she was in London on business, that she worked in the film industry and that her relatives were allergic to silver, and so she was looking for gold jewellery for presents, although in fact the gallery exhibits little gold jewellery. The woman in question took time to develop the confidence of the shop  assistant and was very chatty. She had totted up a potential bill of between £8k - £9k. In the middle of the selection process a small sale to another customer was made, also an American, a man, but this could be coincidental. When it came time to purchase the customer tried to pay with dollars, and when she was told that the outlet only accepted pounds she quite affably said she would go and get sterling, as American Express was also not

accepted. The woman didn't return and at the end of the day it was discovered that a whole acrylic block of rings on display has gone missing, about six in total.”

“While it has not been necessarily assumed that this woman is the culprit, a jewellery shop nearby reported that a couple of days later two or three telephone messages had been left by an American sounding female caller asking to view gold and diamond jewellery. The police were informed. The concerned contact would like people to be  vigilant.”

End of August, North London:

“I work in Angel/ Islington and the lady you described has just been in to our shop today... the exact same story.

That she was here on business and was leaving on Friday. She wanted to see the most expensive diamond jewellery that we had and toted up a bill of £4,000 in about 15 minutes. I remembered the warning in benchpeg and so she did not get any opportunity to steal anything. She left under the same pretense that she was going to get some sterling cash, she has not come back. I have informed the police in the area. The woman is black, around 5ft 5, hair pulled back tight, has a well spoken Caribbean accent with a hint of American, she wore a fake gold watch, diamond cross pendant and large diamond cluster ring on her engagement finger. She was well dressed in a skirt and a blouse. She was carrying a posh paper-type carrier bag. An American man did not come into the shop after her.”

“I have been told that another shop in the area had her in yesterday. I would say she is at this full time at the

moment making her way around the shops in central London.”

Mid September, in the City “I would like to report that we too were visited by the lady attempting the jewellery scam. This was approximately on the 12th September and our store is in the City of London. She again was very friendly and polite, and suggested that she was leaving the country the next day. Again she was smartly dressed, well spoken and had a slightly odd colour of orange hair (one detail which definitely made her stand out). She picked out several pieces of silver, but we were suspicious since we remembered reading the Benchpeg article and she seemed to fit the description – this time her excuse for wanting to buy a large diamond was that she was celebrating her divorce and she did indeed select the largest diamond we had on display. This time she wanted to buy the items on her credit card, but we kept all the items with us and asked for her passport so we could fill out a VAT form. At this she got very argumentative, refused to show any form of ID and stormed out. I hope this helps and thanks for following this story through since it helped us to spot her straight pretty much straight away when she came into our store.”

About a month ago, Mayfair:

“The woman told a sales assistant she was the sister-in-law of Bob Marley. The technique which the

apparently very affable woman used, was to look at high value items in a relatively short space of time to run up a sales value of £52k. However, an excuse was made very nicely, requiring the lady to leave the shop in order to get cash out to purchase. The woman did not return, and stock was later found to be missing.”

End of September, near the City:

“Just to let you know that I am pretty sure the same lady called into our shop in EC4 on Thursday. She asked to look at our largest diamond pendant stating that we were much cheaper than Harrods. The pendant was displayed on a bust with six other pendants but the salesperson removed only the pendant in question leaving the others on the window. The lady then stated that it was much smaller than the 2cts she required and was leaving the country the following day so did not have time to order one to be made. As per your report she was smartly dressed, slicked back hair (in this instance it was coloured orange) with a caribbean/american accent and was very friendly.”

Second Week in October, by advanced appointment:

“Just to inform you that we had the Jewellery scammer visit us on Friday, she didn't manage to steal anything but spent two hours here and picked put £16k worth of Jewellery only to say that she would pay with travelers cheques, we wouldn't accept them, so she said that she was going to the bank and would be back, she never

returned. The lady was black, about 40 and had a Caribbean accent, she said that she was American and was only in London once a year and wanted to buy loads of presents for her daughters whilst she was here. She had called in advance to book the appointment and used a mobile number. She was very friendly and chatty and stayed for two hours looking at lots and lots of jewellery with three of our team, but luckily was never left alone so she was unable to steal anything. We juts thought that we would inform you so you can update your readers that she is still operating and to watch out for her.”

Third Week in October, by appointment (previously left phone messages), South London:

“On Thursday a little black lady entered the shop. She was around 45-50 years old, well dressed, gold jewellery, red lipstick, well manicured nails and had very distinct red hair scraped back in a bun. She was very bubbly and talked a lot. She took her time looking at the jewellery before asking to see certain items. She claimed she knew the owner of the shop and had seen her at Goldsmiths Fair, she also mentioned other shop owners in the area by name, which lead me to believe she was a regular in the area and a regular customer with our shop. She claimed she

recently got divorced and had received some money from her husband. She didn't try to force herself on the

display and only asked me to take things out. At one point I must have turned my eyes away and she managed to take an 18ct white gold ring with a 1.3ct green diamond (poor quality) worth £2200, which she had shown no

interest, including the stand it was displayed on. After negotiating a price reduction, she then pulled out a

mastercard and said that she normally paid some of the money in cash and went to get some. I was looking at one of the shelves thinking something was missing, but as it was a new ring and the display stand was gone too, it took me a while to realise - by then she was gone. All in all she spent a good half hour in the shop and I got a really good look at her.”

What the Police say to do if the scammer enters your premises:

◦ Remember - Safety First ◦ Make no course of action ◦ If you are able, surreptitiously make a call from your back office so that you can not be heard ◦ Call 999 and tell them you have a customer in your shop who you know is wanted by the Police

◦ If you are worried, you can make a plea for immediate assistance ◦ Quote Crime Number: 6411884/08 ◦ The police contact is PC Turnbull

We need to catch this woman - so please don't let on that you know who she is or what she is up to.

Images of Jewellery Scammer Obtained

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