A dozen people were recently victims of fraud when buying bottles of wine, said Thursday the spokesperson for the Walloon Brabant prosecutor’s office, adding that a judicial investigation has been opened.
The victims of these acts are generally elderly people, domiciled throughout the territory of the Walloon Brabant province. Individuals offer to sell them bottles of fine wine, at unbeatable prices. “According to the testimonies collected, the content of the bottles sold does not correspond in any way to the vintage displayed on the labels, it is in fact a poor quality beverage. This type of scam has been spreading in our judicial district for several weeks”says the magistrate of the prosecutor’s office.
The modus operandi is always the same. The victim is first contacted by telephone. A few minutes later, a salesman comes to his home to sell and deliver the bottles to him. When paying by credit card, the thugs manage to debit the customer’s bank account for an amount much higher than that announced. According to the prosecution, some victims were thus robbed of nearly 4,000 euros. A dozen complaints have been registered to date by the judicial authorities.
