Between January 25 and February 1, 2026, several traders around the Ashley Road business corridor in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, reported that a woman had shown a spoofed “payment successful” screen on her phone and taken goods without payment. The reports were first raised on local community groups in late January and prompted warnings among independent shop and café owners.
Local traders and community groups have urged extra caution when customers ask to pay by bank transfer rather than using a card machine. Surrey Police have previously warned about fake or “prank” bank/payment apps that can generate realistic-looking, but fraudulent, transaction screens — and their fraud-prevention newsletters and advice pages urge businesses to wait for funds to appear in their own banking app before handing over goods.
The incidents reported to community groups have mainly involved independent shops and cafés on and around Ashley Road (sometimes mistakenly referred to as “Ashton” in local posts). Local crime data for Walton-on-Thames has shown comparatively high rates of certain theft offences in recent periods, which helps explain traders’ heightened concern, although the crime-data sources do not themselves confirm the specific scam pattern.
Surrey Police’s Elmbridge Beat team is asking anyone who has been targeted to report the incident to them via 101 or through the force’s official channels so officers can investigate and map where these reports are occurring. News organisations should avoid publishing identifying material about any individual alleged to be involved unless there is an official police appeal or incident number to confirm identity.
If you are a trader who has been targeted, preserve any evidence (images of the phone screen, CCTV, receipt or bank-app screenshots) and report to Surrey Police; if you are unsure whether a transfer has completed, check your own business account or banking app rather than relying on a customer’s phone screen.
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