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French police arrest two for bedbug scam of elderly

French police on Thursday said they had arrested two men for fraud after they sold bedbug pest control services to elderly people who did not need them, charging them hefty sums for the service.

French police arrest two for bedbug scam of elderly
A bedbug treatment product. Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP

The two men, operating in eastern France, telephoned their victims, usually women over 90, telling them there had been a bedbug infestation in their neighbourhood.

Preying on widespread fears of bedbugs that gripped France this autumn, they gained access to their targets’ homes passing themselves off as health officials.

They then pretended to inoculate the space against bedbugs with an aerosol.

They also provided an ointment they said would keep the bugs away from human skin, which was in fact a simple eucalyptus-scented cream.

Accepting only credit card payments, they charged between €300 and €2,100 per visit.

Police investigated after receiving nine complaints for suspected fraud. In total, at least 48 people were scammed, authorities said.

Once alerted, police identified the suspects, put them on surveillance and arrested them as they were leaving the home of their latest victim in Strasbourg, eastern France.

In October, France shut several schools over what was thought to be an infestation of bedbugs and the blood-sucking insects were reportedly spotted in the Paris Metro, high-speed trains and at Paris’s Charles De Gaulle Airport.

But the individual cases were not confirmed by the authorities and there was little evidence that bedbug cases has increased, or that Paris had a worse bedbug problem than other major cities.

Factcheck: Is there really a ‘plague’ of bedbugs in France?

This did not stop London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, from calling the alleged French bedbug invasion a “real source of concern”, amid fears that the insects could spread to Britain.

Media in the UK and US ran lurid headlines about the supposed ‘plague’ of bedbugs in Paris and some of the coverage took on a racist tone, with suggestions that immigrants were responsible for spreading bedbugs.

In reality, bedbug cases have seen a steady rise around the globe over the past decade, linked with rising temperatures, more widespread tourism and a ban on some of the chemicals that were previously used to kill the bugs. 

READ ALSO How to not freak out over bedbugs in France

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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