Three "despicable" bogus tradesmen tricked a 93-year-old woman into thinking she needed guttering repairs before stealing £600 and leaving without doing any work.
The men turned up at her house in Linwood Crescent, Eastwood, at around 3.55pm on Wednesday (October 2).
While she was distracted, the thieves grabbed a handbag which contained hundreds of pounds and left without once touching the guttering.
They had turned up unannounced.
Nottinghamshire Police said the elderly woman was left "very upset" after the incident.
Inspector Simon Riley added: "This was a despicable and deliberate targeting of an elderly and vulnerable woman and the incident has left her very upset.
"We are making enquiries to try to catch the people responsible but we would urge anyone who was in the area at the time and saw anything suspicious - or if you have CCTV or dash-cam footage in the area - to give us a call.
"Please call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 641 of 2 October 2019, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
"We would also urge people to be vigilant to this type of thing happening in their area and report anything suspicious."
