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'Fake police' steal €200,000 of jewellery from Paris retirees

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
'Fake police' steal €200,000 of jewellery from Paris retirees
File pic. Photo: Naomi King/Flickr

Brazen thieves duped an elderly Paris couple into letting them into their apartment, where they then made an easy heist.

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The crime took place on Wednesday afternoon, when the couple were approached in the car park of their building, in the wealthy 16th arrondissement of Paris.

France Info reported that the criminals had managed to get hold of realistic police uniforms, and tricked the retired couple by telling them their apartment had been broken into. What the pensioners didn't realize was that the real burglary was about to take place.

In their panicked state of mind, the couple opened their apartment to let the ‘police’ assess the robbery, telling them where their jewellery and other valuables were kept.

By the time the pair had realized what was happening and had called the real police, the four burglars had fled.

It seems that thieves in France are getting increasingly inventive with their scams; last May, a luxury jewellers' in Cannes was robbed by a man wearing an old-man mask, and in February of the same year a stolen Picasso artwork was found after being sent to the US disguised as a €30 Christmas present.

On Tuesday, a British man was arrested in Mallorca for impersonating a police officer sent to investigate a "top secret case".

Paris police are dealing with the enquiry.


 

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