2023-10-10 09:06:00
Suspected crooks were placed under arrest warrant following operating for several weeks in Walloon Brabant and the province of Namur, mainly to the detriment of elderly people, the prosecutor’s office said in a press release on Tuesday.
The judicial district of Walloon Brabant was confronted, for several weeks, with a new phenomenon of fraud targeting elderly or vulnerable people. The authors went door to door offering boxes of pralines for sale, claiming to be working for the benefit of a youth movement.
A new scam is spreading in Walloon Brabant: crooks disguise themselves as scouts and abuse seniors thanks to… boxes of pralines
“Using fraudulent tactics, the perpetrators took their victim’s bank card and managed to steal large sums of money,” said the spokesperson for the Walloon Brabant prosecutor’s office. Several complaints were filed with the police zones of the judicial district of Walloon Brabant, but also in Namur where the crooks were also active. The amount of the scam might be estimated at 70,000 euros.
Faced with the number of complaints and given the scale of the phenomenon, a judicial investigation was opened on September 15, 2023 with an investigating judge from Walloon Brabant. A sustained investigation was carried out in collaboration with the police zones of Ottignies/Louvain-la-Neuve, Ardennes Brabançonnes, Walloon West Brabant, Jodoigne, Braine-l’Alleud and Orne-Thyle. for the district of Walloon Brabant, as well as the Orneau-Mehaigne zone for the district of Namur.
Two individuals were arrested and placed under arrest warrant by the investigating judge in charge of the case. The suspects are two young men born in 2001 and 2005, originally from Charleroi and Couvin respectively. A minor was also arrested and presented to a youth judge in Charleroi.
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