They had chosen their victim well. Five men and a woman are suspected of having defrauded an 80-year-old man living in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche (Yvelines) of nearly a million euros last May, reports The Parisian. The six suspects will soon be tried.
On May 31, the octogenarian received a call from a fake bank advisor explaining to him that his account was compromised and that it needed to be secured urgently. To do this, a fake courier was sent to the victim’s home to collect their bank card. On site, the scammer then realized that the retiree owned many valuable assets.
Elephant tusk and Persian rugs
The fake bank advisor called the octogenarian back and convinced him to secure all these assets in a safe at the bank. It was then a whole slew of fake couriers who moved to steal everything they could: jewelry, an elephant tusk worth 70,000 euros and 14 Persian rugs each worth between 50,000 and 100,000 euros.
At the same time, the bank card was used to make several payments and withdrawals. Total amount of damage: almost one million euros. After months of investigation, only part of the loot was able to be recovered and returned to the targeted octogenarian.
The six suspects, all aged around twenty, were finally identified and arrested. They were presented this Friday to the magistrates of the Versailles public prosecutor’s office and will be tried for organized gang fraud.
