This is the cruel moment a brazen Dublin crook was caught red-handed on camera conning a helpless retired lady out of a significant amount of money in a new scam gripping north Dublin.
The out of pocket pensioner was forced into handing over a whopping €72 in cash last week to a scam artist who harassed her for the money despite her claims that it had already been paid for.
The victim claimed that the man had a wallet bulging full of notes and it's no surprise why.
It's not the first time the same fraudster has messed with the people of north Dublin with several residents in the Drumcondra, Glasnevin and East Wall areas reporting being hoodwinked by the exact same ploy.
But the lady's son wants your help in making sure that his mother is the last person the cunning conman will target as part of this illegal money scheme.
He told Dublin Live: "He was pretending to be picking up the skip bag and demanded money for it despite it already being paid for.
"He said he was dragging it out onto the road while the truck was picking up another bag down the road.
"He dragged it about fifty feet before abandoning it."
And abandon it he did as the weedy scamster put up a tough struggle with the half-empty bag and was more than delighted to drop it and run once it was any way out of sight.
In Dublin Live's exclusive footage, you can hear exactly how the highly-wanted conman tricked his way into getting money off the scared old lady.
The woman's voice has been muted from the video to protect her identity.
Approaching her suddenly, he can be heard saying: "I'm just here about the skip bag. We're around checking the skip bags.
"Aw, I gave you a fright there I'm sorry. I'm going to get it ready to load it there."
Confident that the bag had already been paid for she questions the man, who uses the current global pandemic as a response.
She asks: "I thought my son had paid for it online" to which he replies, "no, it didn't go through because of the COVID thing."
The weakling almost pulls a hernia as he attempts to move the skip onto the street but cheekily enough - and not worried about being caught it seems - he takes several breaks during his poor effort to drag the bag - even taking time out to tie his laces.
Around mid-way through the video, he disappears and hunts down the old lady looking for his 'payment'.
Her son told Dublin Live: "As you can hear, my mum was saying that she believed the skip was already paid for online - I had paid for it as it's in my account - but he persuaded her otherwise.
"He said it was €72 and had a wallet with a lot of cash apparently. She went back inside through the side gate but he followed her.
"He wouldn't leave her alone, so she paid him to get rid of him more so than actually believing him."
The video ends with the skip being tossed out onto the road behind a car and just out of sight of CCTV so he can make a run for it.
The lady's son continued: "I called Gardai and they offered to send a car around and their investigations are still live.
"Originally my mam just wanted to forget about it but after hearing similar reports, she wanted to raise awareness.
"He seems to be targeting women with skip bags, strangely enough that's the common thread from people who have been stung also.
"He shows what appears to be ID, but not close enough or long enough for anyone to actually read it.
"She is so scared of a repeat incident and didn't even want to make a statement - that's the affect it's had on her."
He added: "Most people in the area already know about it but we just want to warn others and spread the word so absolutely nobody falls for it.
The company in question said that they had been made aware of several incidents like the above and confirmed that it was not associated with their company.
