Agents of the UDEV of the Spanish Police arrested last Thursday night a 41-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman, both Spanish, as alleged perpetrators of a crime of fraud, as reported by the Directorate General of Police in a statement.
The investigated event took place on May 15 in a private home in the center of Ibiza town, where an octogenarian woman, accompanied by her daughters, was visited by two people, who presented themselves with uniforms, tools and even accreditations of a well-known gas supply company.
Once they had gained the trust of the victims, the fraudsters remained for more than two hours in the house, pretending to be repairing and carrying out maintenance work, requesting, once the supposed service was completed, the payment in cash of all the money they had at home, with the excuse that it was an advance payment and that once the final budget had been finalized, they would be refunded the difference.
The victims paid a large amount of money in cash. Shortly afterwards, when they began to suspect that it was a scam, they decided to report the facts to the Police Station.
As a result of the investigation, the alleged perpetrators of the scam were quickly identified and both were arrested at 10:30 p.m. the day after the incident, when they were trying to leave the island.
During the search, the agents seized a total of 7,090 euros, highlighting the fact that they were accompanied by two other people at the time of arrest, who turned out to be the alleged perpetrators of another scam of lesser amount of money but identical procedure.
Despite the arrests, the agents continue with the investigation work for the detection of similar cases, as they have evidence in the form of complaints and claims in the consumer offices in the Council of Ibiza and in the offices of the supply companies based on the island.
Once all the formalities were completed at police stations, the detainees have been placed at the disposal of the Duty Court.
The Citizen Participation Unit of the Spanish Police, through its different prevention plans, periodically develops strategies with different groups to deepen the prevention of this type of fraud.
In some cases, they are aimed at specific sectors of the population which statistically tend to be the most vulnerable victims of this type of crime.