BarcelonaMore than 21,000 euros stolen from elderly people. This is the loot that, at least, has been pocketed by a group specializing in thefts and scams that the Mossos d’Esquadra dismantled a month ago. In total there have been four arrested, two men and two women, while a fifth member of the gang has managed to flee the country and has an arrest warrant. His victims? Elderly people, preferably with mobility problems or reduced vision, who approached when they were withdrawing money from an ATM. The mode of operation that they used is known as it seems like it: they would take the opportunity to look at their target’s PIN number when they were withdrawing money, distract them by throwing a bill on the ground and make them think it was theirs in order to steal their card while they bent down to pick it up. They then took the opportunity to withdraw the maximum savings allowed with the victim’s card and also make other fraudulent purchases.
The five members of the group used false identities and moved around a lot. In just three months they committed 12 crimes in Argentona, Badalona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Mataró, Girona and Reus. In addition, each had a specific role at the time of action: one observed the security number on the victim’s card and another was responsible for distracting her by throwing a note on the floor and then asking her if it was hers. When he bent down to pick it up, the observer stole his cashier’s card. Meanwhile, the other members of the group were responsible for monitoring the environment and distracting the other people around so as not to be discovered.
“What they were doing was disorienting the victims so that they could commit the robbery”, explained this Tuesday the head of the Territorial Multirecidivist Unit of the Mossos d’Esquadra, Eduard Rodríguez, who specified that among those arrested there are 100 previous cases in the last 6 years . It is a specialized group that was led by a 63-year-old man with a lot of experience and extensive knowledge on how to apply it seems like it. They wandered through banking institutions until they located a person who fit the profile they wanted. Once they had the victim’s card, they acted very quickly, taking advantage of the fact that the victim was distracted and overwhelmed, and took out the maximum amount of money allowed. In fact, they acted so quickly that they were able to make several withdrawals before the person realized what had happened: once they made up to six withdrawals to steal 4,713 euros and in another a withdrawal of 1,000 euros and different purchases of around 3,500 euros.
Increase in thefts and scams
Rodríguez explained that this is the first investigation that the Mossos are conducting under the direction of the Prosecutor’s Office for the Protection of Vulnerable Victims. The work began in January, when the Catalan police detected an increase in thefts and scams in cities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Thanks to the investigation management and the clues collected, the agents found that all these events could be related and that the perpetrators could be the same in all cases.
The inquiries and the images from the bank’s security cameras made it possible to attribute the criminal acts to a group of five people. The investigators proved that they formed a criminal group, very active and with a stable character that worked in a coordinated way.
In the police operation, they located and arrested the four involved in the events, and around 4,000 euros, clothing and characteristic accessories that they used at the time of committing the events in order not to be detected, were seized. Those arrested are accused of the crimes of theft, bank fraud and membership of a criminal organization. The investigation remains open and the Mossos do not rule out new arrests.
2024-05-21 14:21:25
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