A suspected member of a gang of phone scammers who defrauded vulnerable people out of tens of thousands of euros in a few weeks has been arrested on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Samos, authorities said Monday.
Police said in a statement that the 50-year-old woman also faces charges of breaking immigration laws as she was illegally residing in Greece. She was arrested Saturday in the port town of Vathy.
Police said the suspect, working with another two people at least, had scammed at least five elderly people in various parts of the country out of more than €70,000 in cash and jewellery.
Gang members called up their prospective victims and allegedly talked them into leaving outdoors cash and jewellery they had stored at home, to be collected by confederates. They posed as police officers or doctors, and persuaded their victims to cooperate by telling them that their relatives had been involved in traffic accidents and needed urgent surgery.
Police said the suspect was arrested on Samos shortly after collecting jewellery worth some €7,000 from an elderly woman.
