DURBAN North SAPS has warned retirement villages in the area to be on the lookout for a woman pretending to be a massage therapist. The alleged con woman has already targeted two homes, Twilanga Retirement Village and Milldene Park Retirement Village, where she has robbed her victims of R200 000 worth of jewellery said Capt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the station.

“The lady poses as a massage therapist and even dresses in a medical kit. She asks her victims, mainly women, to remove jewellery while she is massaging them. She then says she needs to get something from her car and steals the jewellery.

“So far we’ve had two confirmed cases in the area. We are warning other retirement homes to be on the lookout for the woman and not to let her in or accept her massage offers. She has been arrested before for similar offenses but was acquitted. There have been two other cases outside our policing precinct,” Deokaran said.

Mike Bowley, general manager of Twilanga and Shirley Sterling of Milldene Park  confirmed the incidents.

“We are aware of the incident and are urging other old age homes to be wary of this lady. The woman managed to make off with R30 000 worth of jewellery in our case. It’s very sad what happened but we urge residents not to let any one they don’t know into their homes,” Bowley said.