Conmen target Barnham shops in delivery scam

The same trick has occurred at least six times around the Arun district known to police since mid-May.

PC Jonathan Ford said: "Over the past month, there have been a number of deceptions involving a male asking staff of commercial premises, especially pubs and fast food outlets, to take in an urgent 'valuable' parcel on behalf of a nearby business.

"The male, who normally rings the victim beforehand to make the arrangement, states there is money to pay on the package and that they need to pay the courier.

"The victim then informs the intended recipient of the package who knows nothing of the delivery.

"To prevent crimes of this nature, please be aware of this deception and do not take in parcels or packages for strangers where there is a request for money to pay the courier."

The two incidents in Barnham occurred in the village centre on June 9. Both parcels were allegedly being delivered to businesses which had closed for the day.

The courier took them to nearby restaurants. One restaurant was asked to pay 27 on behalf of their neighbour. The other paid 89.99.

When the parcels were passed on to their intended recipients, they knew nothing about them.

Both parcels contained just a number of free advertising papers from the North Sussex area.

The parcels were labelled 'Charring Cross Courier Services'. The courier just turned up at both addresses.

But in Bognor Regis, on the evening of May 27, staff at The Alex pub in London Road received a call from a Mr Hughes.

He said he worked at a nearby business and asked the pub to take in an urgent package for the firm and pay the courier.

The next evening, a man turned up with a parcel and collected an 89.99 fee.

A member of the pub's staff passed on the parcel the following day only to find it was unexpected and contained magazines with the covers ripped off.

The description of the courier is a white male, 6ft 2in tall, dark hair, clean-shaven, wearing a suit and tie and carrying an expensive-looking briefcase.

Information about these crimes, or similar offences, to 0845 60 70 999 quoting WA1/4838/08 for the Bognor offence or WA3/5125/08 for the Barnham offences. Anonymous calls to Crimestoppers on 0845 555 111.

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