A callous group of women are knocking on the doors of elderly people in Barreiro, near Lisbon, and introducing themselves as council officials while secretly eyeing up the premises for valuables.
The all-female callers apparently pretend they are making a study into the economic difficulties faced by householders in the area. Later, when the coast is clear, they return to break in and make off with anything they can get their hands on.
In the last week alone, there have been three cases with the same modus operandi. Elderly people have lost money, jewellery and even items of gold.
Now PSP police are setting up “awareness sessions” to alert pensioners on how to deal with the problem.
