Two crooks have just been sentenced for selling cheap wine 5 to 10 times its original value to frail elderly people.
The main accused was sentenced to two years in prison, including six months suspended for abuse of weakness.
The son of a victim testifies on 8 p.m. on TF1.
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The 8 p.m.
“The trunk was full of boxes of red wine bottles“, remembers Richard. The latter agrees to testify in the news report in memory of his father, the victim of a fraud at the age of 87. “My father was ill, he was severely depressed after the death of my mother. I think these people know how to spot this type of fragile person”. For almost a year, the elderly man bought 14,000 euros worth of cases of wine, making dozens of payments by check and bank card.
The wine, presented as a grand cru, was in fact a cheap wine, purchased from wholesalers and delivered to the victims’ homes for 5 to 10 times its initial value. “On November 12, 2019, a check for 1990 euros. On December 4, a check for 1991 euros. We felt that the person was really totally organized to be able to scam and be as fast as possible when he entered the home of a elderly person”, denounces Richard.
At least 25 other people have filed complaints. All were contacted by a call center in Morocco. The target: elderly people who were offered to buy cases of wine. Once the victims were convinced, a man in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques was responsible for delivering the bottles directly to the buyers’ homes.
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The main accused was sentenced to two years in prison, including six months suspended for abuse of weakness. His lawyer appealed. For him, his client is just a simple delivery man commissioned by the telephone center. “He does not make sales, he only makes deliveries and he receives payment on behalf of others. From the moment he only had the status of intermediary, it was not up to him to verify the capacity of people to contract a sale”, believes Me Antoine Tugas, his lawyer. Incarcerated in Mont-de-Marsan prison in connection with another case, the accused is still presumed innocent.
