Police are warning the elderly to be wary of tricksters and thieves in light of an incident in which an 82-year-old woman was robbed in her home.

Mary Richards was at her Ware Road home Monday afternoon when a man knocked on the door and claimed he wanted to talk to her about placing a pipe or water line in her yard, according to a Richmond County Sheriff's Office report.

The man, described as white with brown hair and in his 30s, entered the home and sat in the victim's chair. He said they needed to talk about the matter further. A second man, whom she described as a white man in his 60s, then entered the house and demanded water so he could take some pills he had in his hand. While Ms. Richards was getting the water, the first man fled the home with her purse, money and jewelry, the report states. She saw the two leave in a white Chevrolet pickup before she called police.

Lt. Scott Peebles, of the sheriff's Violent Crimes Division, said it's likely this isn't the only person targeted. The victim said the same man might have come to her door in May 2007, inquiring about the water line.

Often, people choose not to report the incidents because they aren't aware they've been tricked or they feel embarrassed, Lt. Peebles said.

"Falsely, they feel like they're to blame because they should have known better," he said.

Typically, the sheriff's office witnesses an uptick in these kinds of scams during the spring, when people are looking to do home improvements and crooks prey on them by posing as contractors or yard care professionals, officials said.

"We've also seen cases where they start out like this and grow more violent," Lt. Peebles said.

On the whole, both violent and property crimes decreased across the nation in 2007 compared with the previous year, according to the latest FBI Uniform Crime report, an annual compilation of police statistics from across the nation. Violent crime dropped by 0.7, percent and property crime is estimated to have dropped by 1.4 percent, the report states. In Richmond County, robberies and burglaries were up by small amounts while property crimes and thefts dropped.

But with the recession and Christmas around the corner, authorities are expecting more crime.

Sgt. Horace Anderson, who works in the sheriff's office's property crimes division, said the numbers usually spike when families begin to put presents under the Christmas tree.

Right now, thieves seem to be going after electronic components.

"The only difference we've seen so far is the increase in thefts of flat-screen TVs," he said.

Reach Adam Folk at (706) 823-3339 or adam.folk@augustachronicle.com.