A man has been conning elderly victims with deceptive stories 

Crime: Police arrested a 31-year-old man on October 18 from Motithang in Thimphu for robbing a 62-year-old woman on September 30.

According to the woman’s statement, she met the man in Changzamtok when he introduced himself as her eldest son’s best friend.

The man stopped a taxi and accompanied the woman to her home in Taba. The man started taking photographs with his phone of a cupboard in the bedroom when the woman was making tea in the kitchen.

He told the woman that he liked the design of a cupboard in her bedroom and wanted to order one for himself. “He started opening the cupboard and taking photographs,” a police official said.

He then asked the woman for a glass of water. When she returned to the room, the man was not there. She found that a dzee or cats eye and Nu 37,000 were missing when she checked her cupboard after finding it suspicious that the man left without letting her know.

Similarly, a 76-year-old woman from Danglo in Maedwang gewog, Thimphu met a man in the main town on September 9, who claimed that he knew her. The woman sells agriculture produce from her garden and had come to buy carry-bags for her produce.

According to the woman’s statement, the man started hugging her and told her that she don’t remember him because of her age.

The man treated her to some food in a restaurant and asked why she has to work at this age.

A police official said that she told the man that she is saving money to go on a pilgrimage to Nepal. It was then that the man told her that there is an office that sponsors old people who are going for pilgrimage outside Bhutan.

He convinced the woman that he can help her get an air ticket but she would have to pay Nu 10,000, the police official said.

The man assisted the woman in shopping and accompanied her to her home in Namseling in Thimphu. He took Nu 5,000 from her and left.

He returned to the woman’s house on October 1 and gave her a card.

The woman borrowed another Nu 5,000 from a shop and gave it to the man thinking that the card is the air ticket.

When she opened the card, it had only a phone number that doesn’t work. The woman reported the incident to the police on the same day.

On September 28, Thimphu police received a similar complaint from a 60-year-old man. The man reported that he met a young man in town who was very polite and helped him.

According to the man’s statement, the young man told the 60-year-old that he wanted to adopt him as his father.

The duo travelled to Pangrizampa, where the 60-year-old lives with his son.  No one was at home so the man told the 60-year-old that he had some urgent work in the town and asked him to come along in a taxi. However, the man got off the taxi upon reaching Taba and then disappeared.

The 60-year-old got suspicious and hurried home. On the way he came across the man who had with him a silk kira that belonged to the 60-year-old’s daughter-in-law. The man dropped the kira and fled.

Later, it was found that some jewelry was also missing from the house.

The official said that according to the description and identification of the suspect given by the complainants, police suspect the same man to be involved in all the three cases.

“There may have been similar unreported cases,” the police official said. Police are investigating the case.

The suspect has been convicted in the past.

Dechen Tshomo

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