Mohammed Al Hashemi / Flickr
Criminals simulate that there was a touch in the car when parking. GNR attentive to this new way of stealing money to drivers.
In parks of parking there are also accidents between cars; Usually small touches or scratches.
But precisely in these contexts, it has increased in Portugal a scheme that involves the simulation of an accident in a parking lot – When there was no touch in fact.
Happen mainly in parking parks of large commercial surfacessuch as hypermarkets or shopping centers; or in gas stations and, less often, in more isolated zones.
The criminals complain that there was a touch to their car, caused by the driver (the victim); come to damage To seem that there was even an accident in the parking lot.
After, will have with the victim to demand that you pay the alleged damage. If there is resistance from the other driver, the burlon suggests a lower valueto give the idea that you are even helping the victim.
In many cases, describes the criminal until Go with the victim to a multibanco box to force the immediate transfer of the money.
Most victims are elderly, warned João Gaspar, Captain of GNR – Republican National Guard.
The GNR official commented that Lisbon, Santarém, Aveiro and Setúbal It was the districts where the largest increases in the number of complaints of these cases were registered in 2024.
And the cases have come to to grow: There were 34 complaints all over last year and now there are 45 cases in the first weeks of this year alone.
To gnr counseling victims to keep their calm, not giving in to the pressure and threat of the burns; Also, they should soon call the police. For those who have already been circumvented, the essential step is the denunciation and give as much information as possible about the crime.
