Police urge residents to protect their bank cards after two women fall prey to thieves in Cirencester

A man distracted a woman outside Lidl, in Cirencester, at 3pm on November 10 by asking her for directions and, while she was helping him, he stole her purse from her shopping trolley and then tried to use it at various ATMs.

The thief is described as a white man in his late 20s, possibly east European, of medium height and with black hair.

On November 4, a man walked into a staff room at The Fleece hotel in Cirencester and stole a purse containing bank cards.

He then called the woman from a nearby phone box and pretended to be a police officer. He claimed he had caught the thief and needed her PIN number to shut her card down.

The woman gave her number and the thief used it to withdraw hundreds of pounds from her account at an ATM at the Tesco Express in Cricklade.

He was middle-aged, with receding black hair and a moustache, and dressed all in black.

A police spokesman said officers would never urge people to give out their PIN numbers or bank details over the phone, adding: “People also need to be aware that if they do give out this information they are unlikely to be covered by their bank and so would not get back any stolen money.”

PC Annabel Brittain added: “Don’t let your valuables out of your sight even for a moment and always shield your PIN. You don’t have to have someone looking over your shoulder to get it, having stolen your card they can then use it to drain your account before you even realise it’s gone.”