A pair of Romanian men dashed off with some $50,000 from about 20 elderly women by posing as “good Samaritans” in shopping centre car parks.
Police allege the duo – aged 37 and 57 – went on a stealing spree between Saturday and Wednesday, accusing them of running the scam 18 times across NSW, including the Hunter.
The fraud scheme involved one man approaching a victim and informing them there was an issue with the front of their car while encouraging them to open the bonnet to have a look acting as a decoy.
Their offsider would then go through the inside of the vehicle and plunder wallets, purses, cash and cards.
Assistant Commissioner Stacey Maloney said they had stolen about $50,000 over the five days and was a pattern detected overseas.
“It was really quite callous and certainly cowardly,” she told reporters.
“They identified their victims quite quickly, notably women, and these men were in their 40s.
“So, they were not someone who they appeared to be fearful of putting their trust in, almost operating as good Samaritans.”
Most of the victims were over 60, with the eldest in their mid-80s.
The duo was arrested in Glenthorne, near Taree on the Mid-North Coast, on Wednesday after travelling from Victoria.
They had been in the country on tourist visas since 28 December.
Police said a search of the pair and their vehicle found $6,000 in cash, passports, mobile phones, a laptop and a number of money transfer receipts.
Ms Maloney said officers were still on the hunt for two other alleged accomplices, also with similar descriptions of being Caucasian and in their mid-40s.
She noted the offenders appear to be part of a “broader organisational syndicate” that transfers money overseas.
The Assistant Commissioner said the crimes were distressing in their targeting of victims and showed an unusual pattern of defrauding used outside of Australia.
“It makes my blood boil,” she stated.
“Most people who are good, honest, hard-working citizens and they’re just going about their business, shopping like we do every day, and scammed in the way that they have is quite disgraceful to be perfectly honest.”
The arrested pair is accused of duping victims in carparks across 15 suburbs in Sydney along with Goulburn, Newcastle, Morisset and Wagga Wagga.
They were hit with 72 charges, each relating to theft, fraud and entering a vehicle without consent.
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