A GOOD Samaritan who said she was conned out of £70 by a highway fraudster is warning others about being caught in his trap.

Yarnton woman Pauline Siddons was tricked by the conman on her way home from an afternoon shopping in Oxford on Sunday, February 15.

She was flagged down by a man of Middle Eastern appearance as she drove on to the slip road to the A34 from the Botley Interchange on her way home at about 5.30pm.

After he told her he could not buy petrol and needed to get home to his family Ms Siddons handed over the money in exchange for a business card and what appeared to be a gold ring.

But when the single mum got home she discovered on the internet stories of other people becoming victims of the same crime, including a woman who was almost conned just a few miles away an hour earlier.

Our top stories

The 52-year-old said: “I was going on to the slip road when he jumped out at me waving his arms.

“I thought he had crashed or someone was injured so I pulled over.

“He came over to the passenger side front window and he told me that he was German and was a real family man.

“He said he needed to get back to his family in Germany and that he had just been to the BP garage at the Botley Interchange but his debit card was not working in Britain.”

The man, who Ms Siddons said had a slight Middle Eastern accent, asked her for cash and said he would pay her back as soon as possible.

He gave her his business card and a gold ring which had an 18 carat stamp on it.

An hour earlier a woman was targeted by a man of Eastern European appearance in Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire, who offered her a ring and business card in exchange for money for petrol.

She refused to do so but a man in Surrey also fell victim to the scam last November.

Ms Siddon said: “When I rang the number on the card it was engaged and I sent him an email and it came straight back.

“Of course the ring was worthless too. I was really angry. It got to me that he had played on my generosity.

“I would still tell people to be generous but I wish I had got his registration number and taken a photo of his face.

Ms Siddon said when she contacted the police they put her in touch with Action Fraud, a national taskforce that investigates fraud across the UK. Staff there told her she was unlikely to get her money back.