The modus operandi suggested a well-established team of professionals.
The implementation on the ground showed investigators from the Versailles Research Section (Yvelines) who followed them and observed for a week before their arrest on Tuesday April 6 that these two thieves of Georgian nationality were rather nickel-plated feet who had to go on numerous occasions to rob their victims.
On Friday, these two men, aged 23 and 31, were sentenced by the Versailles Criminal Court to four and a half years in prison, including three years closed for one and three years in prison, including two and a half years closed for the other. .
They must also each reimburse 6,400 euros to the civil parties and both receive a definitive ban from French territory.
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Ile-de-France: fake police officers spotted their victims in shopping centers
The case begins on October 15 when an elderly lady pushes the door of the gendarmerie brigade of Orgeval (Yvelines) to file a complaint after the theft of her credit card.
She tells the soldiers that she was accosted by two men when she had just filled up with gasoline in a service station in Chambourcy.
While one of them tells her that one of her tires is deflated, she does not realize that the other is stealing a bank card from her.
She later discovers that payments and withdrawals have been made.
Secret codes filmed with their phone
The Research Section takes the file in hand.
Investigators are convinced that such a modus operandi has been proven and that there are other victims elsewhere.
They make connections and discover several similar facts in the Yvelines, in the Val-de-Marne, in the Hauts-de-Seine, but also outside the Île de France, in Mayenne, in Maine-et-Loire. or in the Eure.
Each time, the prey of these thieves is targeted in shopping centers or gas stations.
They mainly set their sights on octogenarians.
To obtain the secret codes for credit cards, they discreetly film people with their phones when they pay.
They then follow the victims and take the first opportunity to puncture one of their tires with a knife.
They wait for motorists to stop to offer them help… and crack down.
The investigations of the gendarmes reveal that the head of this team and his lieutenant are two Georgians in an irregular situation already known for similar facts and who use false identities.
They are arrested after having made several passages in a commercial area which suggested that they were once again going to take action.
In total, they stole 12,800 euros during a dozen incidents.
