I am a victim of fraud under Section 16 of the Theft Act 1968.

I wish to alert others to just how believable such fraudsters can be.

Two men called to my home in the afternoon of Monday, May 18, telling me something I knew to be true, that the gutters on my home needed cleaning out.

The offence was in making the false statement, that one man had noticed, this for himself, while carrying out work on my neighbour’s property for which he had been called out.

I believed him and agreed to him carrying out work on guttering to the front of my property as he first suggested and I also asked him to clear and examine the rear gutter which he agreed for double the cost – it was a little high I thought, but in the circumstances maybe worth paying, rather than go to the trouble of finding a worker to do the job and perhaps also paying a callout charge.

Had I not believed that work had already been carried out by commission on my neighbour’s property, I would not have agreed to have had any work done, by a caller arriving without an appointment.

On completion he advised me of other work needed – which I know is necessary – he gave an estimate for a complete job, also for a short-term remedy – the amounts seemed feasible. I asked for his details and said I would contact him if I wanted him to undertake the further work after obtaining a comparative estimate.

He was going to post his business card through the letterbox which was in his vehicle.

No business card was posted through the door, my neighbour confirmed that she had not had any work carried out that day.

All this was reported to Essex Police by its online reporting system – almost immediately I had a response, by email, saying no crime had been committed.

I disputed that by email and later received a further email saying they still would not treat it as a crime.

I clearly was a fool not to have been more careful before I agreed, to the work being done.

It was done rather quickly whilst my mind was engaged on other matters at the time.

Neither did I check thoroughly before paying the man – who stepped into my home to collect the money. The small amount of emergency cash I keep at home has now been relocated.

Probably the biggest danger in all this was in permitting the man to enter and thus scrutinise my living room.

Essex Police is clearly wrong, it does not change the fact that the Tiptree district is a comparatively low crime area, I have experienced nothing similar in the 38 years I have lived here.

Nonetheless, if this is how Essex Police treat such reports the total crimes reported will be an under counting.

Andrew S Hatton,

Address withheld