An incident occurred at this year's book fair in which three women and two men pretended to be collecting money for a charity organization. The fraudsters were of Romanian origin and took advantage of the gullible nature of visitors to the fair to obtain both cash and PayPal payments. On Thursday, an attentive witness was able to uncover the scam after making a donation herself and then observing a suspicious transfer of money between the men and women.
The witness acted quickly and contacted a security employee, who immediately informed the police. The citizen police officers deployed were able to quickly identify the group thanks to the witness. Cash and donation lists were found on them, which served as evidence of the fraud that had been carried out.
The five suspects are now under criminal investigation. In addition to fraud, they are also accused of obtaining benefits by fraudulent means, as they had gained access to the trade fair with fake tickets. These incidents cast a shadow over what is actually a positive atmosphere at the book fair and underline the need for vigilance.
