Overview
- National Police say they have clarified 13 frauds across Madrid districts, Torrejón de Ardoz, Alicante and Murcia, and they detained a man after seizing jewelry, phones, documents, clothing and a high‑end car.
- Investigators report the caller posed as a doctor, played a recording of a crying “son,” and demanded cash for supposed gold screws needed to save a limb in an emergency surgery.
- The group kept victims from checking with family by holding phone lines, asking for every contact number, and stalling with tasks like reading banknote serials, then told them to bag cash and gold and drop it from a window or hand it to a masked collector.
- Police say the victims were very elderly and often alone, many aged 85 to over 100, and some suffered severe anxiety or cardiac events when they learned the call was a scam.
- The probe remains open as investigators estimate the operation may have hit up to about 100 people and netted roughly €500,000, and police urge families to distrust hidden-number calls, verify directly with relatives, set a security question, and report incidents to 091.