Granny sleuth helps police get on trail of gang running scam

An 80-year-old woman in Thessaloniki has helped police arrest the suspected first member of gang that scammed elderly people out of at least 67,000 euros.

The con artists are alleged to have obtained the money by calling pensioners and claiming that they were doctors at a local hospital where a relative was being treated after an accident. They would then ask for cash to pay for the treatment.

However, the 80-year-old suspected it was a scam when she received the call. She checked that her son had not been involved in an accident and then called police, who helped set up a meeting with the supposed doctor to hand over the cash.

This led to the arrest of a 59-year-old man who claims he knew nothing about the scam and that he was a taxi driver who had been hired to collect a package whose contents he was not aware of.

The gang is thought to have conned 13 people and failed in its efforts to trick another 39. One of their victims lost 39,000 euros due to the fraudsters’ actions.

It is not known how many more people were involved in the scam.