The conman who strolled into Aldi, picked up a TV ... then took it to till for £330 refund!
A SMILING thief tricked a supermarket worker into handing him £330 after picking up a brand new TV in store and walking it straight to the checkout for a refund. The brazen conman pocketed the money after taking the Bauhn 49in Smart TV from a shelf in an Aldi branch.
He presented it to a cashier and demanded a refund – despite having no proof he had paid for the item.
When the checkout worker asked to see the receipt for the television, the man strutted up to the store’s manager – out of earshot of the cashier – and warmly shook his hand.
After seeing the interaction with his boss, the cashier assumed he had authorised the refund without proof of purchase.
The middle- aged man was then handed £329.99 and calmly walked out of the Lincoln store on January 2.
It was not until later that staff realised it had all been a con and informed police.
A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: ‘We are looking to speak with this man seen on CCTV as we believe he may be able to assist our inquiries.’ A spokesman for Aldi refused to comment on the incident.
Writing online, many people said they had witnessed similar brazen thieves carrying out exchange scams. Jennifer Jane, from Harro- gate, North Yorkshire, said something similar happened at her mother’s local Sainsbury’s.
‘A woman staggered to customer services carrying a heavy vacuum cleaner and asked if she could leave it with them while she brought her car to the entrance’, she said.
‘Of course, [there was] no problem. She collected it and drove off with a £100-plus cleaner that hadn’t been paid for.’ Another web user from East Yorkshire said: ‘I worked in a big DIY store where conmen had been targeting stores with the same trick for years.’ Another wrote: ‘The more blatant people are, the more they get away with it.’