A VULNERABLE man was conned out of £9,800 after being targeted by rogue traders.

The 77-year-old man, of Shoebury, who will remain anonymous, has been left shaken and resorted to getting CCTV in his home after the incident.

He said: “Last year, I had been in hospital and nearly died so required an emergency operation which left me hospitalised for about six months.

“Because of that my garden was a bit of a mess and need some work doing.

“I found this business card that said Falcon tree pruning or something to that effect and a man came round and offered to it for £500.

“I said I needed to speak to my son at the weekend so then he offered to do it for £320. He became quite insistent so to get rid of him I just agreed.”

The man already had a team of three others waiting in the white van they arrived in and got to work immediately.

“Two of them did an OK job but my carer had to keep going out and telling them they had missed bits.

“The other two were in my back room talking to me and said they only could only take a bank transfer because they didn’t accept cheques and I don’t keep cash in the house.”

The victim got out his iPad to do the bank transfer prompting one of the suspects to offer him help.

“I just thought I would get my son to change the passwords at the weekend when he visited.

“The man took his glove off and typed in the password. I said them quietly but I think a second man was putting the details in on his mobile phone.”

The traders transferred the agreed figure before finishing the work but refused to cut the lawn.

The victim added: “They said they had to send someone else to cut the lawn the following day so that morning, they came and headed straight round the back.

“But they didn’t have any tools so I told them to come round the front because I wanted to know what was going on. They forced their way in and said he was just showing the other men the lawn.”

The men then took the victim’s iPad again but this time transferred £9,800 into their own bank account.

“They locked the iPad in my draw and took the key which I didn’t realise until they had gone. Luckily I had a second key and saw what they had done.”

The victim was able to get the money back from Lloyds but has been left shook up by the incident.

“I’m on my own most of the time so it’s really dangerous.

“They were like bees round the honey pot. It was a very nasty incident and I will be getting cameras installed in my home to prevent it from happening again. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Two men were arrested but released under investigation.