Three sisters who ran a flower shop in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) have been detained by the Civil Guard. The reason is due to their alleged participation in a criminal group that used the ‘prize ticket’ method.
Thanks to this technique, they scammed older people who were posted geolocators.
As reported by the Benemérita through a press release, the detainees are 38, 35 and 28 years old. The loot obtained is estimated to exceed € 31,000 in cash and € 6,500 in jewelry, watches, wallets, bags and mobile phones.
The way to Scam
Their modus operandi was always the same: one of the girls approached elderly people who were alone in the street. Using a Galician accent, she required their attention by telling them that she had a lottery ticket, but did not know where to go to collect it.
Subsequently, another participant appeared in action, pretending to be a lawyer and made the elderly believe that the lottery was awarded. To make the injured party believe it, the alleged lawyer received a call from the third involved, who appeared to be a lottery and confirmed that the tenth was awarded.
Once the victim’s trust has been obtained, they convinced him to keep the tickets in exchange for cash and jewelry. When they succeeded, they placed an amulet on the injured party as a necklace that was really a geolocation device with a microphone, which allowed women to act in case the scammer found out.
Various crimes charged
His arrest occurred when they were driving with one of the victims inside a vehicle. In it was found cash, three GPS devices, 10 lottery tickets and a bundle of real papers and bills mixed.
They are charged with several fouls: belonging to a criminal group, a continuing crime of fraud, a crime against privacy by placing geolocators victims without their consent and a crime of money laundering when trying to legalize the scammed money through the florist.
Up to now, 10 victims of these women have been located in the Madrid municipalities of Arganda del Rey, Rivas Vaciamadrid, Colmenar Viejo, Collado Villalba, Villanueva de la Cañada, Algete, Humanes and Ciempozuelos.