TWO Spaniards have been arrested on a Benidorm campsite over a lottery ticket con that scammed over €42,000 out of elderly people in Alicante, Calpe, and Villajoyosa.
The man, 35, and woman, 32, were part of a travelling gang of Madrid-based swindlers with previous fraud arrests across Spain.
They approached elderly people aged over 70 to scam them in an old trick known as the ‘tocomocho’.
One of the swindlers pretended to be either illiterate or mentally-ill and would show a drawn ONCE lottery ticket that allegedly had won a prize but was unable to collect the winnings.
The other member of the duo would approach the scene and offer ‘smart’ advice about how to cash the ticket in.
The elderly victim is then sold the ‘winning’ worthless ticket and is even accompanied to an ATM to withdraw the cash before the transaction is finalised.
In some cases, the duo walked with victims to their homes as they went to collect the agreed fee, and when they were distracted, the fraudsters stole jewellery and other items.
The Policia Nacional discovered numerous stolen jewels and goods plus €2,000 in cash in a car used by the man and woman.
They also had wigs, moustaches, glasses, and caps which they wore to make their identification difficult in areas with security cameras.
Various ONCE tickets were also recovered which they planned to use in future ‘tocomocho’ scams.
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