Police are again urging shoppers to be alert after another distraction theft in Felixstowe – again involving a man with a map.

A 77-year-old man was returning to his car at the Langer Road Lidl store around 2pm on Friday when a man came up to him, waving and pointing and talking in a foreign language.

The elderly man said he didn’t understand but the man kept talking and pointing at a big map he was holding.

He told him no and got into his vehicle, with the man walking away up Garrison Lane. The driver then realised that money and a bank card that had been in his jacket pocket was missing.

The thief is described as white, 5ft 8ins tall, slim to average build, with short light coloured hair and wearing a dark fabric jacket and dark blue trousers. He had a plastic shopping bag and map.

It is the second similar incident.

On February 7, a man and his female accomplice targeted a woman in her early 80s at a Co-op store car park in Hamilton Road, Felixstowe.

The victim’s purse was stolen in the incident between noon and 1pm on February 7. She put her purse on top of one of her shopping bags which she was loading in to the boot of her car when the man and woman approached and asked for help.

The man held a map, got very close to her and pointed at various locations. The woman he was with spoke to him in a foreign language.

Later the victim noticed her purse was missing.

Anyone who saw the man or who has any information about either incdient is asked to call Felixstowe police on 101.

Police are urging shoppers and drivers to be cautious if you are approached in this manner and to alert officers immediately using 999 if you suspect a crime may be in progress.