Two arrested in France over alleged bedbug pest control scam
French police have arrested two men on suspicion of fraud after they allegedly sold bedbug pest control services for large sums to elderly people who did not need them.
The two men, operating in eastern France, phoned their victims, usually women over 90, telling them there had been a bedbug infestation in their neighbourhood, authorities said.
Preying on widespread fears of bedbugs that gripped France this autumn, they allegedly gained access to their targets’ homes by passing themselves off as health officials and then pretended to inoculate the space against bedbugs with an aerosol. They are also said to have provided an ointment that they said would keep the bugs away from human skin, which in fact was a simple eucalyptus-scented cream.
Accepting only credit card payments, they are said to have charged between €300 and €2,100 (£350 and £1,800) a visit. Police investigated after receiving nine complaints for suspected fraud. In total, at least 48 people were scammed, authorities said.
Police identified the suspects, put them under surveillance and arrested them as they were leaving the home of their latest victim in Strasbourg.
In October, France shut several schools over what was thought to be an infestation of bedbugs and the government held a series of emergency meetings. The blood-sucking insects were reportedly spotted on the Paris metro, high-speed trains and at Charles de Gaulle airport. Individual cases were not confirmed by the authorities.
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, called the alleged French bedbug invasion a “real source of concern” amid fears that the insects could spread to Britain.