Con artist posing as a garden retailer targets supplier, placing bogus orders worth thousands of pounds.
In the latest incident, which took place today, a woman who identified herself as 'Jenny' and claimed to work for Poddington Garden Centre in Northamptonshire, ordered around £8,000 worth of SBK direct from supplier Vitax.

The order, which received clearance from the wholesaler it was to be invoiced through, had all the correct product codes and prices and appeared to be genuine.

A further call from Jenny informed Vitax she would be sending a lorry to collect the order, which made Vitax suspicious. While it is not unheard of for a customer to send a vehicle to collect items, suspicions were aroused when another driver waiting to load at the Vitax premises explained he had been caught up in a scam only the day before involving televisions, which had also been organised by a girl called Jenny.

Police were called and arrived at the same time as the driver who had been sent to collect the Poddington order. He was questioned but allowed to go, as it emerged he was an innocent party and not in on the scam. Skelmersdale Police in Lancashire have all the details and would like to hear of any similar incidents.

The Garden Industry Manufacturers Association (GIMA) is asking that all suppliers and retailers beware. GIMA director Neil Gow said of Vitax's lucky escape: "With margins as tight as they are these days, an awful lot of sales are required to make up a loss such as this might have been."