MORE people from Oxfordshire have been targeted in a scam which cost a Yarnton woman £70.

Pauline Siddons was tricked by a man on the slip road from the Botley interchange to the A34 who said he needed money for petrol.

He took £70 from her in exchange for a business card and gold ring, both of which turned out to be fake.

After her story featured in the Oxford Mail on Saturday, more people have reported coming across the highway fraudster.

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Two other people from Oxfordshire who were targeted did not hand over more than loose change but have warned others about being tricked.

Businessman Richard Pain, from Kidlington, was travelling up the sliproad on to the southbound A34 at the Peartree interchange on Tuesday, February 24, when he was flagged down by a man standing beside the road.

Oxford Mail:

Richard Pain, who nearly fell victim to the roadside con trick. Picture: Jon Lewis

As with Ms Siddons, who was conned nine days’ earlier, the man said he was German and could not buy any petrol because his debit card would not work in Britain.

Dad-of-three Mr Pain said: “It was about 9.30am or 10am and I was going up the sliproad when I saw a dark green Rover 400 pulled over and a guy was standing by it.

“He was waving frantically so I pulled over and wound down the passenger window.

“He had a big gold ring in his hand and he said something about giving it to me as a deposit.”

Mr Pain told the man, who he described as having slightly dark skin and possibly of Eastern European appearance, that he had no money and drove off. He said: I didn’t think much more of it but when I got home I told my kids to be aware when they are out and about.”

Freelance photographer Richard Cave was also caught out by the scam, but he handed over only £3.50 in change. The Cumnor resident was travelling down the sliproad from the Botley interchange to the A34 when he was confronted by the fraudster, at the same place where Ms Siddons was scammed.

As in other cases, the man handed over a fake business card and offered Mr Cave a watch and ring, claiming they were gold.

Mr Cave said: “I genuinely had almost no money but he took £3.50 and he then asked if I had a cash card because he would follow me to a cash point. I said I was late and didn’t have time.’’ Ms Siddons also said she had been contacted by someone who had handed over money to the fraudster.

She said: “He handed him £200 and he’s got the ring given as security valued by a Kidlington jewellers, who said it was worthless.”

Action Fraud, the national anti-fraud team, is investigating Ms Siddons’s case.