Two men, aged 24 and 20, were detained on Wednesday by the Public Security Police (PSP) in Ponta Delgada, Azores, on suspicion of defrauding elderly individuals.
The scheme always followed the same pattern. The suspects drove around in a car searching for a target, preferably someone elderly.
Once a potential target was found, the suspects approached the elderly person, claiming that the person had just hit their car, convincing or even forcing them to pay for the “damages” — preferably in cash.
If the victim did not have money immediately available, the suspects accompanied them to the nearest bank to facilitate a transfer.
Typically, victims gave the suspects amounts ranging from 1,500 to 5,000 euros. However, one elderly person transferred 25,000 euros — an amount that only stopped there because the victim’s children noticed the missing funds from their father’s account.
In total, the PSP stated in a communication that the suspects managed to obtain “monetary amounts from victims totaling 60,000 euros.”
The scheme was identified at the beginning of the year, but only now, after various investigations, has it been possible to identify with certainty the group behind the frauds.
So far, the PSP has identified 11 victims, but believes there could be more who have not reported the crime to the authorities.
During domestic searches, the PSP seized “various documents, including information on monetary flows and amounts,” 2,550 euros in cash, and two ammunition rounds suitable for military weapons.
The two detainees were formally charged, along with two other men and a woman who were allegedly involved in the scheme.
