It was the complaint of an American who allowed them to be traced back to them in May 2015. While preparing for her trip to the Côte d’Azur to attend the Cannes Film Festival, the New Yorker received a promotional offer offering him an apartment for rent. It was when she arrived in Cannes, at the address of the apartment on avenue de la Croisette, that she realized that it did not exist. She filed a complaint, and the police eventually tracked this couple down. He was tried this Wednesday by the court of Périgueux for having defrauded 16 victims for a total damage of 43,647 euros.
They sublet houses to vacationers
The couple, originally from Poland, was based in Lalinde. Between 2015 and 2016, they scammed dozens of holidaymakers, renting them houses in the Dordogne via online sites like Abritel. And the scam was perfectly well run.
Each time, the victims think of reserving a beautiful house on the Côte d’Azur or in the Dordogne, in Issigeac, Grignols, Villamblard or Allas-les-Mines. Customers then pay a first installment, then a second. A few days before the start of the reservation, they receive a letter, by registered mail, which tells them that the rental will ultimately not be able to take place, for family reasons. In fact, the couple was renting out houses they were renting themselves, even though the owner had not agreed to a sublet. “When the houses existed, they took several reservations on the same dates which they canceled because they could not honor them. And sometimes the houses simply did not exist”explains the president.
They will have to compensate the victims
At the helm the two fifties do not look at each other. After four months in prison and years under judicial supervision, they ended up separating. The woman apologizes to the victims. “It was my ex-companion who managed the accounts, I was not aware”, she tries to justify herself. Yet the rental contracts were established in his name, the accounts in Luxembourg, too.
He does not dispute anything, he explains that it was a difficult period of his life. If all the documents were in the name of his partner, it was because he did not have a passport. “It was my mistake, I am responsible”, he said. Both explain that this money was used to pay the bills, sometimes to reimburse vacationers who had been scammed. “It served to justify their lifestyle”, replies the prosecutor. At their home, the investigators found a luxury rental car, a bag and designer glasses.
Since then, the two spouses say they have moved on. He wants to set up his business, she was hired by a big company in the Dordogne. They were sentenced respectively to one year in prison, including eight months suspended for her, and 18 months, including 14 suspended for him. They will not return to prison since they have completed four months of detention. They must also compensate the victims, with sums ranging from 1,400 to more than 5,800 euros.