Criminals often take advantage of the naivety of their victims on the road to scheme and take their money and belongings. The well-known scams involving the flat tire and the mirror have been added more recently by the fake mechanic, as the Mossos d’Esquadra warned last February when they reported on their social networks the scam suffered by a driver in Torelló (Barcelona). ). Now, from France, comes a new variant of these deceptions usually committed against elderly people and which is known as the gold scam.
This is a deception that is gaining strength on French roads and that, due to its proximity to Spain, could soon be transferred to the highways and highways of our country. The modus operandi used by scammers is almost always the same: they stop their car on the side of the road with the hood up, pretending to have suffered a breakdown, in the hope that a driver will stop their car to give them assistance. To make the deception more credible, they usually travel with women and children.
Once the motorist is interested in the problem suffered by the vehicle they have seen stopped on the shoulder, the scammers tell the victim that they have run out of gas and that they do not have the money to fill the tank. However, they show him some gold jewelry that they are carrying and try to exchange it for an amount in cash, even at the cost – they say – of losing money.
In the case that the person assisting them does not have cash, the scammers insist on being escorted to an ATM, refusing at all times to travel to the nearest service station. The scam occurs when the thieves give their victim the supposed gold jewelry in exchange for an amount of money to refuel, since they are false and have no value as some people who have been scammed have proven when trying to sell them in a store. pawns.
Various French media have been warning since the beginning of the year of this strategy used by criminals on the roads of the neighboring country, although they point out that it is a practice that was already detected years ago and that had practically been considered eradicated.
The Facebook page Info Trafic IDF, which provides information on incidents recorded on French roads, published a post at the beginning of the month warning that the occupants of a gray Mercedes with an English license plate were perpetrating the gold scam. on the A86 motorway near the intersection with another road.