{"id":398754,"date":"2026-01-08T01:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/398754\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T01:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:53:13","slug":"nsw-police-charge-two-men-over-alleged-car-trouble-scam-targeting-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/398754\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW police charge two men over alleged &#8216;car trouble&#8217; scam targeting the elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">New South Wales police have charged two men over an alleged statewide scam scheme targeting older Australians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Police allege the crimes involved two men approaching elderly female victims in shopping centre car parks, claiming there was an issue with their vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">They will allege one man encouraged the victim to look under the bonnet, while his partner allegedly stole items such as wallets, purses, cash and cards from inside the vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Police have recorded 18 similar incidents to date, stretching from Wagga Wagga in the state&#8217;s south to Forster on the Mid North Coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Police allege the incidents took place in shopping centre car parks at:<\/p>\n<p>Albion ParkAshfieldBeecroftBerowra HeightsDouble BayForsterGoulburnNewcastlePennant HillsPenrithShellharbourThe PondsTumutUnanderraWagga Wagga<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0Riverina targeted<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Police allege elderly residents in the Riverina region were heavily targeted last weekend, with seven separate incidents recorded across Wagga Wagga, Tumut, Goulburn and Yass.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Riverina Police District Commander, Superintendent Andrew Spliet, said people in regional areas should remain vigilant when approached by strangers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;Country people in the regional areas are very obliging and like to help people out,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;Unfortunately, people out there will try and take advantage of the good nature of our community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;In this area, we haven&#8217;t seen something that I could recall on this scale.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Man in dark shirt and shorts with blurred face with police officer behind.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/edff61af2c97091381c131b0c3ff5946.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Two man have been charged with various offences related to an alleged statewide scam scheme. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Police arrested two men, aged 37 and 57, on the state&#8217;s Mid North Coast on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">When searching their vehicle, police allegedly seized vehicle wires, international passports, $6,000 in cash and receipts of money transfers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The men were both charged with 72 offences and refused bail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">They are due to face court later today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Two men in white shirts and dark caps walk through an automatic door.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/696b210c0c3807e70a91978a5d78b837.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Police have released images of two men they wish to speak with about a spree of scams at shopping centres. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Police are appealing to the public for help in tracking down two other men wanted for questioning over the crime spree.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Both are described as Caucasian men in their 40s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New South Wales police have charged two men over an alleged statewide scam scheme targeting older Australians.\u00a0 Police&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[212346,48,1420,43,673,10668,44,137862,1158,45388,22864,206703,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-398754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-car-trouble","tag-crime","tag-elderly","tag-headlines","tag-new-south-wales","tag-newcastle","tag-news","tag-old-people","tag-police","tag-robbery","tag-scam","tag-spree","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}