An elderly resident of the Bradford District was repeatedly targeted by an “organised crime group” – a new report has revealed.
West Yorkshire Trading Standards said the vulnerable resident of the BD20 area had paid £30,000 for “very minimal work” to his home.
The organisation said the group behind the work had carried out similar alleged offending in other parts of the North, and an investigation into the issue is ongoing.
Details of Operation Bale, a cross-regional doorstep crime investigation, were included in a recent report about the work of Trading Standards that was presented to Bradford Council on Thursday.
The report says the investigation began in 2022, adding: “Initial enquiries identified that the vulnerable resident had been repeatedly cold-called by an organised group of rogue traders.
“The victim has paid out over £30,000 for very minimal work on the garage roof at his property. After intense research and intelligence collation, it was identified that the same rogue traders were allegedly offending in three separate Local Authority areas across the North East and West Yorkshire regions.
“The alleged defendants were using the same offending practices and all the victims they were targeting were elderly and vulnerable. During the investigation, it became very clear that the alleged offenders having initially travelled to Bradford to target their victim then continued to return to him to extort money over a period of months.
“In March 2023, the alleged defendants involved were assessed and mapped as an Organised Crime Group, believed to be working together to commit doorstep-related crime and laundering money through identified bank accounts.
“The case was then handed over to the Yorkshire & Humber Regional Investigations Team in April 2023 due to the nature of the investigation being cross-boundary.
“Officers continued to support the investigation when required.
“The Bradford-based victim has been safeguarded by WYJS officers to prevent further loss and has been supported throughout whilst the investigation continues.”
The report went to Bradford Council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Thursday evening.
Andy Robson, Director of West Yorkshire Joint Services, spoke about efforts to tackle scams, saying: “Some unscrupulous individuals look to target the most vulnerable people in our communities.
“They pick on individuals who often struggle to look after themselves, and they often target their life savings.
“These unscrupulous individuals often sell on a list of names of vulnerable people to other groups, and these people then get repeatedly targeted.”
He said many victims were reluctant to come forward due to the shame of admitting they were scammed.
