Paris, France – At the end of December 2020, eight people were arrested after a year-long criminal investigation by Spanish and French police. Authorities suspect the group stole nearly 20 million euros worth of jewelry.
The group ran a ‘rip-deal scam.’ They purported to be wealthy buyers and used fraudulent money to con their victims. In January 2020, officers from the Catalan regional police; the Mossos d’esquadra investigated a theft in Barcelona of a diamond valued between 7 million and 15 million euros.
The Policia Nacional released a statement saying “The criminals pretended to be interested in buying the stone and used a distraction technique to swap the box containing the original jewel for an empty one.”
The statement also said, “They were specialists in rip-deal frauds and used a special bag with a false bottom and fake money to deceive their victims. They were well trained, experienced and on the lookout for new victims on an almost daily basis.”
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