Female confidence tricksters arrested

TWO women have been arrested on suspicion of conning the elderly and carrying out thefts. The victims were aged between 70 and 86 and resident in Las Cabañuelas, Vicar, Adra and Balerma

The detainees are accused of gaining their victims’ trust by carrying their shopping for them or offering to clean their homes. They would often call the victims by name or greet them with effusive displays of affection, thereby confusing the elderly victims into thinking they must know them or simply lowering their guard. In other cases, the women would pickpocket the house keys from the victims during a hug. Once inside the victims’ homes they would manufacture a situation in order to be left alone before stealing money and personal possessions. If they could not locate valuables quickly, they would often steal house keys and return later when the property was empty. In one case, one of the women approached an elderly victim after a visit to a cash point, gaining access to the house and stealing valuables.

PMF, a 29-year-old resident of Almeria, and MCLF, a 38-year-old resident of Almeria, had carried out a number of confidence tricks and thefts in the area before the Guardia Civil were able to arrest them. The case remains open, so that the involvement of the two women in other similar crimes is not discounted.