Police in Loulé have identified and arrested a Banco Popular account manager on suspicion of swindling “more than a million euros from customers.”
The scam has been going on since 2001. The defendant is accused of writing out customer cheques and depositing them in his own bank account and therefore stealing the amounts over a long period, according to a police statement .
The victims are known to be two octogenarian female customers whose joint account the man managed, to his benefit rather than theirs.
One for the victime, 87-year-old Rolanda Silva told Correio da Manhã that, “he seemed such a nice man. He promised us such a high interest rate that we sold two houses, a car, jewellery and antiques.”
The women had opened a joint bank account at Banco Popular in 2001 and the scammer would even visit the customers at their homes to avoid them coming in to the branch and maybe discovering they had been ripped off. The fraud was discovered two years ago and the man fled to Africa. He returned and was living at an address in Loulé when arrested by alert police.
The party-loving detainee, now 52, has not been in trouble with the police before but already has appeared in court charged with theft. Sensibly, it was decided that he is not allowed to leave the country again, his passport should be surrendered and he has to report to the police station on a regular basis until trial.
When Banco Popular was asked by Correio de Manhã whether the two elderly customers would be reimbursed, its spokesman said that the bank is “willing to collaborate with the authorities,” or in other words, 'not yet, not if we can help it and maybe never.'
