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The gold scammers’ tour of southern Sweden was quick and effective: In place after place, people left jewelry, cutlery, coins and trophies in exchange for a promise of payment later. So far, the police have received at least 160 reports.
— I feel cheated and stupid.
That’s what one of the victims told BLT after handing over a collection of coins to the fraudsters, who temporarily rented a room in a hotel in Karlshamn.
The fraudsters claimed that the coin collection was worth SEK 14,000. The money would be deposited into his bank account and transferred within three days. But he got nothing.
– I waited until the very end for the money, which I thought would come. I thought until last Friday that I would get my money. You don’t believe that people behave in this way, says the man to BLT.
Police in the backwater
In the South region alone, the police are aware that fraudsters using the same procedure visited 12–15 locations during the first half of April – from Oskarshamn in the north to Trelleborg in the south.
And the police constantly end up in the backwater, says police spokesperson Robert Loeffel.
– When people start reporting it, we are a week after the incident occurred and these people know that. They run a tough race, because once it starts to get out in the media, then it’s too late – then they’re already somewhere else or they’ve quit, he says.
Even in Halland, exactly the same frauds have been carried out in several locations and there have been 25 reports so far, reports P4 Halland.
Sharp men
“We buy, you sell!” it was stated in the advertising leaflets that were distributed in mailboxes before the visit to the respective location. Those who took a nap have met two polished men.
– They are very accommodating, nice and knowledgeable in their field, it seems – the way fraudsters usually behave.
The police are now going through the reports and examining, among other things, surveillance cameras at the places where the frauds took place. But so far there are no suspects.
– As in all other cases when you have to sell something. Never give up an item before you have received the money in your account, says Robert Loeffel.
