Three people, including an under-age boy, have been arrested for alleged involvement in a common but highly effective phone scam targeting vulnerable people in which fraudsters pose as accountants or crooked tax officials, police said Monday.
Only the ruse failed, leading to their arrests just after other members of the alleged gang of scammers thought they had talked a man in northern Greece into handing them €23,500, as well as gold coins and jewellery.
Instead, the intended victim called the police, who arrested the three suspects Sunday when they came to pick up the cash and valuables.
Police said that the detainees are also suspected of having previously defrauded an elderly woman out of €32,000, supposedly to have a fictitious tax debt written off.
Despite repeated public awareness campaigns, such scams are still highly effective, particularly against elderly people living in rural parts of the country.
