Fraudster pulls knife on woman in row over fake notes
A DISABLED woman has spoken of the terrifying moment a Gumtree fraudster pulled a flick-knife on her after he tried to buy her phone with a wad of fake notes.
Anne Morton, 51, thought she was selling her iPhone 7 to a ‘pleasant man’ for £500 after advertising it on the popular buy and sell website.
But he turned up at her home in Middleton, he presented Anne with a stack of fake £20 notes.
Anne unwittingly handed the money over to a friend to count in the hallway while she handed the phone to the man.
When her friend noticed each note had the same serial number, she alerted Anne, who then demanded he give the phone back.
Anne said she confronted the man, who then pulled out a flick knife and pointed it at her, before fleeing with the phone.
Anne, who suffers with cardiomyopathy, said: “When he first turned up he seemed like a nice lad.
“As soon as my friend realised they were fake notes I grabbed him and told him to give me my phone back.
“He then pulled out this massive knife. It’s the biggest flick knife I’ve ever seen. It looked like a hunting knife. It had serrated edges and holes in it.
“He said ‘back off’ and ran down the road.
“I just remember the look in his eyes. It was pure evil. I was in tears after it happened.” Anne is warning others to be vigilant. She added: “I was absolutely terrified by what that man did to me.
“Not only have I lost out on a phone I thought I had sold, this man has pulled a flick-knife on me. I just hope the police can find him because he’s a man walking round with a great big flickknife.”
A Gumtree spokesman said: “It’s distressing to hear of this ordeal experienced by Anne Morton. Gumtree is absolutely committed to tackling scams and we work with the authorities on an ongoing basis to prevent this kind of incident from happening.
“We always urge users to report scams, or potential scams, to us immediately, so our dedicated safety team can take action such as blocking the offender from the site and aiding the police with their investigation.”
Police confirmed the incident had been reported to officers and that they were investigating the incident.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We can confirm it was reported to us.
“Enquiries are ongoing.”