European Police Reveal Fraud With Momentary Love Of Young Women: Targeting Elderly Men, Losing More Than IDR 15 Billion

JAKARTA - Police officers are investigating a temporary love-style scam using young women, which targeted elderly Italian men with losses estimated at 1 million euros or around Rp. 15 billion.

The women will be employed as domestic workers in a bid to convince lonely men in Calabria, southern Italy, to part with their money, reports Euronews May 20.

They frequently had physical contact with their victims, who were aged between 70 and 90, according to the European Police Agency, Europol. Various scams were used to get the men to lend them money, including personal health problems or family member illnesses.

One victim lost nearly 20,000 euros, while another suffered two heart attacks after one of the women secretly gave him Valium before robbing his home.

Europol further explained that the criminal organization behind the fraud had been exposed, with 13 arrests made on Thursday. The investigation into the case involved police from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Romania.

"The victims will transfer large sums of money to the women. Only one of the victims lost nearly 20,000 euros due to this scam," Europol said in a statement.

"Other criminal group members will collect the money and then send it to Romania via a different remittance service. The criminal assets are then laundered in Romania through investments in real estate, vehicles and gold," he explained.

"Investigations estimate that the criminal gang managed to earn more than 1 million euros or around Rp. 15,481,698,570 through this criminal activity."

"During the investigation, law enforcement identified 56 members of the criminal gang, with 16 of whom were key actors in the scheme. Investigators localized a number of these suspects in Romania, Germany and are linked to the Netherlands."