A 43-year-old Romanian has been identified as a member of a criminal organization that stole expensive jewellery using the Rip-Deal method, police officers from the Division of Crimes against Life and Property of the Directorate of Organized Crime proceeded with the case.

As it turned out, the Romanian in question has a rich criminal past as he has been previously arrested in France (2003 and 2014), Italy (2010), Netherlands (2015), and Germany (2015).

The Greek police reached the 43-year-old by utilizing evidence and exchanging information with Europol and Interpol while investigating a theft committed by the foreigner at a hotel in Athens in August 2023.

At the time, the Romanian had deceived his victim by extracting two women’s necklaces, four men’s watches, and a gold ring worth a total of 243,000 euros.

Rip-Deal

The theft of 2023 had been carried out using the Rip-Deal method whereby criminals identify items of interest on specialist websites and then approach sellers seeking to gain their trust. In fact, to make themselves even more convincing to their potential victims, they did not present themselves as ordinary workers but as businessmen with high social and professional “status”.

The next step is to arrange a face-to-face meeting to check the items for sale in central hotels in the city where they were operating. There, during the process of displaying the luxury items, the “appraiser-buyer” would use various pretexts to persuade the seller to hand over the items to him so that they could be properly packed in front of him and temporarily placed in the hotel’s safe.

However, upon delivery of the package with the items, the “appraiser” did not deliver the newly packaged items but different – fake ones in packages that looked so similar that the seller could not realize that it was a clone bag (RIP-DEAL method).

In the 2023 theft, a 59-year-old jeweller had been victimized by the Romanian, with the 43-year-old convincing him to put the items for sale in paper packaging to put them in a hotel safe deposit box. The Romanian then left temporarily, on the pretext that he would return shortly with the money they had agreed for the sale. But when some time had passed and the 43-year-old was nowhere to be found, the 59-year-old jeweller realised that something was wrong. And when he opened the package that had been put in the safe deposit box, he found that there was none of his jewellery inside, but other jewellery of little value.

The investigation of the special team set up at the Crimes Against Property Department, found that the 43-year-old Romanian on the same day that he snatched the jewelry and watches, had crossed the border via Evzona driving a luxury BMW.

The ELAS statement on the solving of the theft and the identification of the 43-year-old Romanian

The Sub-Directorate for the Investigation of Crimes against Life and Property, of the Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime identified a 43-year-old foreigner – a member of a criminal organization, who committed thefts of luxury watches and jewelry in various European countries using the “RIP – DEAL.”

Before the investigation of the Department of Crimes against Property, of the above Sub-Division, and after the relevant exchange of information with International Law Enforcement Authorities, the action of at least since the summer of 2023 of a moving criminal group, whose members were stealing luxury watches and jewelry.

In particular, it was found that the members of the organization have committed thefts with the above method in various European countries, including Greece, and specifically in August 2023 in a hotel in Athens, with the total monetary value of the removed items amounting to 243,400 euros.

For this case, among others, the above 43-year-old man is accused, as he is allegedly involved in the commission of this theft, which was carried out with the “RIP – DEAL” method, while his full details were ascertained after appropriate data exploitation and exchange of information with Europol and Interpol.

As to the methodology of the organization’s action, it emerged that its members initially identified the items they were interested in on specialized websites and then approached the sellers seeking to gain their trust. To make themselves even more convincing to their potential victims, they did not present themselves as ordinary workers but as businessmen with high social and professional “status.”

Then, they would arrange a face-to-face meeting to inspect the items for sale at central hotels in the city of their choice. There, during the process of displaying the luxury items, the “appraiser-buyer” would use various pretexts to persuade the seller to hand over the items to him so that they could be properly packed in front of him and temporarily placed in the hotel’s safe.

However, upon delivery of the package with the items, the “appraiser” did not deliver the newly packaged items but different – fake ones in packages that looked so similar that the seller could not realize that it was a clone bag (RIP-DEAL method).

They were found to travel by air or road, even using luxury vehicles.

The case file that was formed was submitted to the relevant prosecuting authority.