How the “alms” method of cheating works. Instead of gold jewelry, he received napkins and a 50 money coin

A woman from Dâmbovița tricked several women under the pretext that she wanted to give alms. The victims gave him their gold and silver jewelry, and the scammer took advantage of their inattention and replaced them with worthless items or simply left.

On April 19, the Galati Court of Appeal definitively sentenced a woman from Dâmbovița county to a suspended prison sentence for fraud. She was forced to return 7,500 lei to the two people she tricked.

The first victim of the woman from Dâmbovița was a worker at Salubrity from Focșani, who met her on the street on 4.11.2020.

“She was accosted by the defendant …, who initially asked her where a church was located, and later specified that he wants to give them alms
for the king…, moving together to the church. In front of the church, the defendant made the injured person give her the jewelry she had on her, namely four pairs of gold earrings, a chain and a ring, both silver, which the defendant wrapped in a napkin , and later in a handkerchief and tied them with scotch tape”, the investigators determined.

The scammer gave the victim the wrapped handkerchief and asked her to unwrap it after a month. Shortly after, the woman opened the handkerchief and found that inside there were only napkins and a 50 bani coin, thus realizing that she had been cheated. The value of the jewelry was estimated at 3,500 lei.

After a few months, the woman repeated the scenario also in Focșani. On 04/06/2021, another woman notified the Police after realizing that she had been cheated by the same method.

“She was stopped by a female person who asked her about the location of a church because she wanted to give alms in the name of the king…. He told her that he was giving her alms and thus touched her ears and hands with his hands, on which occasion he took a pair of gold earrings and two gold rings. Later, the defendant she slipped the jewelry into a handkerchief which he wrapped and requested the injured person not to open it for a while”, it is mentioned in the indictment.

The Focșaneanca realized that there were other worthless jewels in that handkerchief, and asked the woman to return the jewels, but she got into a car and left. The value of the jewelry was estimated at 4,000 lei.

It is unlikely that the victims will recover their damages because, according to the Police, the scammer has gone abroad and his current whereabouts are unknown.