'Fake' grandkids defraud elderly Swedes
Two men have been apprehended by police after a long search for the fraudsters who had been duping elderly Swedes into believing they were giving money to their grandchildren.
“We’ve put down a lot of work to find out who the perpetrators were. It was an extensive investigation that led us to the men,” said Mikael Hedström of the Gävleborg police to the local Hudiksvalls Tidning newspaper.
The men, aged 44 and 46, were taken by police after a long car chase in Gävleborg, eastern Sweden, on Tuesday.
The pair had been operating a widespread con in Sweden since January, in which they contacted elderly Swedes, convinced them that they were their grandchildren, and then fleeced them of their money and valuables.
According to the paper, the men had succeeded in conning people at least 15 times and had amassed fraudulent goods up into the hundreds of thousands of kronor.
The criminals allegedly convinced the gullible grandparents that they were in need of quick money to settle a one-off problem, and that they would be paid back straight away.
However, when police started to receive very similar complaints and tip-offs from across the country, they realized they were dealing with repeat offenders, and tracked the pair down.
According to police, the men were able to avoid detection in party by laying low after carrying out their con before then moving onto another area and repeating the scam.
The men have been detained on suspicion of serious fraud, and police have begun further investigations.
“We have had preliminary interrogations with the men. Now we’ll begin working on searching their homes, doing line-ups and collecting material,” said Hedström to Hudiksvalls Tidning.
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“We’ve put down a lot of work to find out who the perpetrators were. It was an extensive investigation that led us to the men,” said Mikael Hedström of the Gävleborg police to the local Hudiksvalls Tidning newspaper.
The men, aged 44 and 46, were taken by police after a long car chase in Gävleborg, eastern Sweden, on Tuesday.
The pair had been operating a widespread con in Sweden since January, in which they contacted elderly Swedes, convinced them that they were their grandchildren, and then fleeced them of their money and valuables.
According to the paper, the men had succeeded in conning people at least 15 times and had amassed fraudulent goods up into the hundreds of thousands of kronor.
The criminals allegedly convinced the gullible grandparents that they were in need of quick money to settle a one-off problem, and that they would be paid back straight away.
However, when police started to receive very similar complaints and tip-offs from across the country, they realized they were dealing with repeat offenders, and tracked the pair down.
According to police, the men were able to avoid detection in party by laying low after carrying out their con before then moving onto another area and repeating the scam.
The men have been detained on suspicion of serious fraud, and police have begun further investigations.
“We have had preliminary interrogations with the men. Now we’ll begin working on searching their homes, doing line-ups and collecting material,” said Hedström to Hudiksvalls Tidning.
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