Two remanded on suspicion of extorting €5,000 from woman aged 70

Two people have been remanded by the Limassol court for five days, a man aged 30 and a woman aged 51 on suspicion of fraud, and of theft under false pretences.

The pair were arrested during a sting operation involving the police and the woman aged 70 from Larnaca who made the complaint.

The older woman, in her complaint to police said that a person she had met online had managed to extort from her on three occasions, sums of money totalling €5,000 under various pretexts.

She said she had initially sent the person, through two transfers to a foreign bank, a sum of money totalling €1,500, and had handed over €3,500 in cash to a man her online ‘friend’ had sent to pick up the money from her at a car park in Limassol on June 28.

Her online contact continued to ask for money under various pretexts after which the woman became suspicious and went to police.

A new meeting was arranged to hand over money and police placed the car park under surveillance on Saturday to catch the culprit.

During the surveillance operation, police spotted a man moving suspiciously in the car park who fit the description of the 30-year-old, a resident of Nicosia and he was arrested.

Following his questioning, testimony emerged against a 51-year-old woman, also a resident of Nicosia, police said, and an arrest warrant was issued. She was later picked up by police.