A GNR (National Republican Guard) source explained to Lusa news agency that after the victim saw an advertisement for a high-displacement car on the Internet, he contacted the suspect. The two men then decided to go to a bank in A-dos-Cunhados to “handle the purchase and sale documentation.”
Upon meeting the supposed seller, the buyer realized that “there was no vehicle” and reported the case to the GNR, according to the Guard.
The GNR also stated that the officers immediately went to the bank in the municipality of Torres Vedras, Lisbon district, and caught the 51-year-old suspect in the act as he was attempting to carry out the fraud, valued at 38,000 euros.
During the investigation, the GNR seized 2,075 euros in cash and two mobile phones.
The man arrested for qualified fraud is suspected of other similar crimes in the municipalities of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the Western region, according to the same source.
The suspect was brought before the Torres Vedras Court in the Lisbon district, but the GNR is unaware of the coercive measures applied.
