Two women and one man have been arrested in Barcelona by agents of the National Police after being discovered as the perpetrators of scamming elderly people at ATMs. The complainant, an elderly person, assures that the criminals would have made fraudulent refunds for 2,600 euros. A police investigation derived from the complaint reveals the modus operandi of the criminal gang: display the PIN code, distract the person and steal their debit card.
While one of the criminals stood next to the person to view the entered PIN code, another threw a bill on the ground to distract the victim by asking if it was his. In the oversight, one of the criminals extracted the debit card to take it away. Upon seizing the debit card, the criminals withdrew money from nearby ATMs, while the victim claimed to the bank that the ATM had kept his card. The third member of the band was in charge of monitoring the environment.
Despite hiding behind sunglasses, masks and caps to avoid being caught on surveillance cameras, the perpetrators were identified. All of them, specialized in this type of crime, had multiple police records for crimes against property in different parts of the country.
The investigation, which began in early June, is ongoing due to the possibility of new victims.
