HAMMOND | Two men claiming to be township workers reportedly tried to get inside an elderly south side couple's home on Tuesday afternoon, but the savvy residents refused them entry, police said.

A man wearing a white hard hat with the word "plumbing" stenciled on it knocked on a door in the 7500 block of Jackson Avenue shortly after 1 p.m. and told the man of the house that "the township" was giving out new garbage cans.

The resident told police that the fake township employee asked him what color can he wanted, and directed him to the alley to show where he wanted his new can delivered.

It was at this point the resident became suspicious that he was about to be victimized in a scam, he told detectives, so though he went with the "township" employee, he locked his door on the way out.

At least 28 Hammond senior citizens have been visited by thieves allegedly playing the con since December, in which a man poses as a city or utility worker to gain entrance to the senior's home, then distracts them while his partners ransack the residence for cash and valuables.

While the men were in the backyard Tuesday afternoon, the resident's wife told police a second man came to the front door, asking her to let him in to get a bucket for the "trimming" work going on out back.

She said she had a security chain latched on the door, so it would only open a short distance, and closed the door in the man's face.

The man continued to knock on the door, she said, while talking on a two-way radio, and then ran off.

Moments later, the man in the hard hat also ran off down the alley, but neither resident said they saw any vehicle, police said.

Police are reminding residents that all city employees and legitimate utility workers carry official identification and will show it on demand, and police recommend that residents call 911 if a suspicious person comes to their door.