Three men sought in parking lot fraud case

Rocky Mount police are looking into multiple reports of between one and three men in an SUV defrauding women in area parking lots.

In one such case Wednesday evening, a woman told police said three men in a black SUV pulled in front of her car, blocking it in a parking space as she was waiting for her daughter outside Cracker Barrel. The driver asked her if she had money he could use for gas, and the woman told him she had no cash.

A second man exited the SUV, the woman said, and told her to follow them to a gas station. The second man got in the woman’s car, police said.

“Fearing that she may be harmed if she did not comply, she followed the SUV to the Hess station on English Road while one of the suspects hid in the back seat of her vehicle,” Capt. Laura Fahnestock said in a written statement. “Once at the gas station, the victim used her debit card to purchase $20 worth of gas to put in the suspect’s vehicle.”

Anyone observing suspicious activity similar to this case should contact Rocky Mount police at 252-972-1411 or by dialing 911, Fahnestock said.