National Police agents arrested one of the members of a traveling group dedicated to scams in Santa Cruz de Tenerife after locating a victim from whom he had stolen more than 175,000 euros with this technique.
THE … The investigation began last November following a complaint from an elderly woman who said she had been the victim of a scam known as “distressed son” method. According to the complainant, she was contacted by a stranger who pretended to be her son, telling her that he had changed his phone number because his previous one was broken and that he was in an urgent situation and was asking for money.
Likewise, he informed her that her supposed manager would contact her shortly. Subsequently, another individual called her, who identified himself as her son’s manager, agreeing to give her an envelope containing 42,000 euros which was collected by a third person.
The scammers later contacted the victim again, telling her that she should send more money via bank transfer and ATMs, with these transactions carried out by the woman reaching a total of 34,750 euros.
In the days that followed, the complainant continued to be harassed by telephone by the attacker, now demanding valuable items, to which the victim handed over more than half a kilo of jewelry which he valued at 100,000 euros.
After that, the scammer tried to get her to hand over more money, and it was bank staff who alerted the woman at that point that she might be a victim of a scam. scam due to the amount of strange movements they observed in their accounts.
The investigators, knowing that in the days following the filing of the complaint, the victim had agreed to make a new delivery of money, installed a device in front of his home, which resulted in the arrest of an 18-year-old young man who had arrived on the island that same morning with the sole aim of get the money back that the interlocutor who usually spoke with the victim had agreed to return to the peninsula a few hours later.
The detainee was placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority, which ordered his release with charge.
The agents’ investigation remains open with the aim of completely dismantling this criminal group dedicated to defrauding the elderly through this modus operandi.
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