高齢者狙いトコジラミ駆除詐欺、男２人逮捕　仏

【ストラスブールＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス警察は７日、高齢者宅でトコジラミ（ナンキンムシ）がいないにもかかわらず駆除を行い、高額な料金を請求したとして、詐欺の疑いで男２人を逮捕した。（写真は資料写真）
　男２人は同国東部で９０歳以上の女性を主に狙って電話をし、住んでいる地域でトコジラミがまん延していると告げていた。
　今秋フランスで広がったトコジラミへの恐怖心に付け込み、保健当局者を装い標的の家に侵入。噴霧器を使ってトコジラミを駆除するふりをした。さらに、トコジラミよけと称する軟こうも提供していたが、実際はただのユーカリの香りのクリームだった。
　クレジットカードでの支払いのみ受け付け、１件につき３００～２１００ユーロ（約４万７０００～３３万円）を請求していた。
　詐欺罪の告訴９件を受けて警察が捜査を行っていた。当局によると、計４８人が被害に遭った。
　警察は容疑者２人を特定・監視し、東部ストラスブールで犯行を終えて被害者宅を出たところを逮捕した。
　フランスは１０月、トコジラミのまん延に対する懸念を受け、複数の学校を閉鎖した。
　パリの地下鉄、高速鉄道、シャルル・ドゴール空港でもトコジラミの目撃例が報告されたが、個々の事例について事実確認は取れていない。
　それにもかかわらず、英ロンドンのサディク・カーン市長は、フランスからのトコジラミ侵入疑惑を「本当の懸念の種」と呼んだ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/08-16:53）

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.
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 euros ($324-2,265) 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 as the government held a series of emergency meetings.
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.
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.