DANIEL SOMOLINOS Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-00:04
The tocomocho scam, one of the classics of this country, has once again claimed a victim in Alcobendas.
Taking advantage of the naivety of an octogenarian,
two women and a man from the same family clan swindled more than 3,000 euros from the victim through this trick. But the National Police has already arrested the three members.
It all happened on February 5. The
modus operandi
that the criminals use in the tocomocho scam is simple: they approach some unsuspecting person on the street with the excuse of having a winning Lottery ticket, but
they claim that they cannot collect it
. With some glibness, and a lot of nerve, they insist the person make an exchange. They will give him the ticket in exchange for an amount less than the prize that he can collect at a bank. But such tickets
are always fake.
In this case, they convinced the octogenarian to give them 3,000 euros that she withdrew from a nearby ATM. He also gave them several pieces of jewelry that he was carrying at the time and
his credit card.
The scammers then fled the scene by car.
It was the victim's daughter who alerted the Police. An operation was quickly mounted by agents from the Fuencarral-El Pardo district, who located the vehicle driven by the man, arrested at that same moment. Inside the car they found a multitude of clothing and accessories -
wigs, coats, hats
and sunglasses - that are commonly used in this type of deception to avoid being recognized. Also seized were 16 supposedly winning lottery tickets and
the stolen jewelry and money.
The two women were later arrested while leaving a supermarket where
they tried to buy with the victim's bank card.
The three members are charged with a crime of fraud... Something that is not strange to them. They are part of a family clan
specialized in the tocomocho deception.
They have turned this trick into an art since, as police sources say, two of them have never had a formal job nor have they been affiliated with Social Security.