Two men aged 30 and 50 have gone to prison accused of fraud and belonging to a criminal group, following around 50 telephone scams worth €182,000 at restaurants throughout Catalonia. The Mossos d’Esquadra said that the men sent to prison are the leader of the gang and his accomplice, who they arrested during searches in Barcelona and Badalona on 10 May.
The investigation began last September when the Mossos learned that two restaurants in Sitges had been defrauded from the same phone number. The perpetrators had posed as employees of an electricity company and had claimed an outstanding debt of €3,000.
As a result of these investigations, the police found that the alleged fraudsters could be related to several similar deceptions in various parts of Catalonia, with which they had obtained a huge financial return and always following the same script in the telephone calls. The person on the phone was always the same, with great powers of persuasion, who simulated different tones of voice.
The investigation made it possible to identify the person responsible: a man with 16 police records who had already participated in similar scams between 2011 and 2014 and for which he had served a prison sentence. His accomplice was in charge of withdrawing cash from ATMs and recruiting other participants.
Following the entry and search of the investigated persons’ homes, with the authorisation of the court of Vilanova i la Geltrú, the Mossos arrested the men and put them at the disposal of justice. During the search, electronic systems and more than €14,000 in cash were recovered.
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