The number of elderly victims targeted by a couple of thieves in Gwinnett County continues to grow.

Gwinnett Police investigators say they’ve had seven cases since January with two this month alone.

All of the thefts involve two Hispanic or Slavic men driving either a truck or paneled van.  "They are convincing these elderly victims to come out of the house and go into the backyard under a pretense that seems legitimate,” Cpl. Jake Smith tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

While one man has the victim outside, the other pilfers belonging inside. 

Jo Hewatt, 81, of Lilburn was one of two victims in January.  “He told me he was going to do some work for my neighbor back in the back, and he wanted me to come out and show him where the line was,” she tells Parrish.

Hewatt’s husband was in the hospital at the time and she was home alone.  “I got suspicious… I said there’s no neighbor back there, that’s a creek,” says Hewatt.

She says after the man left, she went back inside and found cash and nearly $6,000 in jewelry missing.

Police believe the suspects may be using surveillance to target their victims who are all elderly women home alone.

Besides Lilburn, the locations of the Gwinnett County robberies have included Buford, Norcross, Stone Mountain, and Snellville.  Smith says Suwanee Police are also investigating a case there, and three more have occurred in other jurisdictions in the metro Atlanta area.