South Dubliners are being warned after a man was swindled for €500 by crafty scammers who have hit a number of people in the area.

The man had been sitting in a coffee shop in Dun Laoghaire when he was approached by a young woman with a "south county Dublin accent" who asked him to donate money to homeless children.

Alan said the woman was convincing with her story and agreed to donate, but that he had no cash and would go to the ATM across the road.

(Image: Getty)

Speaking to Joe Duffy, he explained that the woman then followed him and somehow managed to punch in numbers over his shoulder when he wasn't looking.

He said: "Nice south county Dublin type accented lady asked me if I'd like to support a charity that her and her mother were running in order to raise money for homeless children so I said of course that'd be a good idea.

"She had what looked like a sponsorship form in her hand that had been partially filled in by people and she said she had already filled in one of these.

"She also pointed out that her mother had the franchise for the coffee shop so I though that I was sitting there in fairly safe company.

"I explained that I didn't have any cash, I had paid for my coffee and my scone with a card but I said 'look I really think it is a good thing you're doing and I don't want to appear mean so I'm quite happy to go across the road to the money machine and I'm happy to get some out for you.'

"So that's where I set out and she accompanied me and on the way over across the road we were talking about her football team and how she was in goals for the team etc.

"It was very credible, she was quite a tall person and extremely fit so that seemed a likely story.

"I went over and put my card in, and this is the really odd bit, I punched in my code numbers at which point she was continuing the conversation.

"She said something and she managed to turn me away from the machine at which point she reached over me, with a big smile on her face, and punched in an amount which amounted to €500.

He went on to say that he tried to cancel but couldn't, and when Duffy asked him why he wasn't immediately alarmed, he said the woman had done it in a "playful" way as if she was joking.

She then asked him if he'd mind taking their change back at the cafe as it would be easier for them to use the 50 notes when handing the money over to charity.

Alan said: "I was a bit suspicious at this point but there was no one around , she was pleasant, well spoken, her Mum 'owns the cafe' [he thought] and we went back.

"She started talking to a woman behind the counter that looked very familiar."

Alan was then given the sponsorship form to fill out and put down an amount.

She then handed the money over to the woman behind the counter and told Alan her mother was across the road in another business and they needed to go over to her to get him his change.

"She said 'listen we'll go over there' and she went ahead of me. As soon as she got to the door of the coffee shop she shot and everything really notched up.

"I was a bit fitter than she expected and I managed to catch up with her and I got to the premises and she turned and headed for a car that was parked.

"Then the whole south-county Dublin accent dropped and out came a completely different voice, much more inner-city, and it just shows you what a snob I was being.

"I was going to trust a south county Dublin one but everything became clear just because her accent changed.

(Image: Getty images)

"She was swearing at the occupants of the car, which there was a woman with a child on her lap in one seat and a man in the driver's seat."

Alan explained the people in the car, who would later turn out to be her accomplices, locked their doors so she couldn't get in and he made a grab for her arm.

"He was screaming 'no' at her and she was screaming 'no' and suddenly I became the criminal as far as anyone on the street was concerned.

"I was a man attacking a woman who was 'trying to get into a car and get away from me'.

The car then started to edge into the curb before pulling out and getting away with the woman and Alan's money.

He managed to get the reg number and reported the incident to the gardai who told him the car had been involved in several similar incidents.

He also amazingly then managed to track the car himself by searching the number plate online.

The car popped up by a page dedicated to shaming people who parked in disabled bays and included the image of the robbers.

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CCTV has also been taken from the cafe.