A great-grandmother has been targeted by ruthless rogue tradesman – who swindled her out of thousands of pounds.
Eighty-six-year-old Mary Brander ended up paying £3,200 for work which has since been valued at less than £800.
Yesterday, the widow – who lives alone and uses a walking frame and wheelchair to get about – shared her story to try to help stop other pensioners becoming victims of similar cons.
Mrs Brander said: “I try not to worry about them coming back, as I’d make myself sick, but I don’t want any other old person to suffer the way I have.
“My advice is not to answer the door to people you don’t know.
“I wish I had just shut the door on that man when he first came.”
Mrs Brander was visited by a bogus workman who cold-called at her home in Elgin offering to refurbish her front garden.
He and another man spent two days ripping out stone slabs and weeds and replacing them with gravel.
Mrs Brander agreed to pay £3,200 to cover the cost of the renovation, but by the time the workers had finished they demanded £4,000.
When the men, who claimed to be father and son-in-law, said they would take Mrs Brander to the bank so she could withdraw the cash, her own family became involved.
Mrs Brander’s daughter, Mary Chalmers, said: “We were not going to pay the men £4,000 and we offered £2,500 instead.
“But they would not accept that, and in the end we gave them £3,200.
“My mother lives alone and there was no way we could take the chance of them coming back once we had gone.
“They were not going to go away until they got what they wanted.”
A local contractor has since confirmed that the true value of the work totalled less than £800.
Mrs Brander added: “My family were quite angry, and we’ve been to the police about them. They say they have been looking for these men for some time.”
Moray Council’s trading standards manager, Peter Adamson, said: “Our advice is never agree to having work done on the doorstep.
“People are in no position to check the price of the work and will find they are unable to contact the trader when anything goes wrong.
“In many cases, these traders try to take advantage of elderly and vulnerable people which is why we would ask relatives, friends and neighbours to be on their guard.
“The best way to deal with these people is to politely say ‘no’ and to close the door immediately.”
Chief Inspector Willie Findlay said: “Bogus workmen and rogue traders prey on the vulnerable in our communities and commit quite unscrupulous crimes.
“The longer lasting effect of those crimes can be very hard to take for the victims.
“There are groups active in Moray at present and my officers are working with trading standards to ensure the damage they cause is minimised.”
Anyone with information about bogus workmen should contact Trading Standards on 0300 1234561, or police on 101.