\n<\/p>\n
Thieves took 4,766 gold sovereigns and jewellery from an 88-year-old woman in Thessaloniki after phone callers posing as city staff persuaded her to bag her valuables, in a haul worth nearly \u20ac3.8 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n The case ranks among the largest phone scams on record in Greece. Wrapped in aluminium foil, the gold sovereigns sat in a plastic bag in her hallway beside jewellery worth about \u20ac10,000.<\/p>\n Throughout, the woman stayed shut in her bedroom with the front door open. When she came out at around 9:30pm on 13 October, the bag had gone and someone had shut the door.<\/p>\n Initially, the calls came from an unknown number. A woman said she worked for the City of Thessaloniki<\/a>.<\/p>\n She warned of a risk of explosion or fire because of works by the Public Power Corporation<\/a> (PPC). To keep safe, the pensioner had to unplug her appliances and gather her valuables in a bag.<\/p>\n The caller also reassured her that her son knew about the danger. He would come by to collect the bag, she said.<\/p>\n After that, a man aged about 35 to 40 took over the call. He told her to go into the bedroom and shut the door.<\/p>\n However, the front door stayed open. An accomplice could then walk in and take the bag of gold sovereigns unseen.<\/p>\n Later, on the morning of 14 October, the same man rang her twice from the same number. He said he wanted to check that she was all right.<\/p>\n The scammers played on the woman\u2019s fear. By invoking the city and the power company, they got her to clear the way for the theft herself.<\/p>\n As a result, the case puts phone fraud back in the spotlight as a persistent problem for the Hellenic Police<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite repeated warnings, fraudsters still find ways to catch older people off guard. They exploit both their fear and their trust.<\/p>\n So far, police have not reported any arrests in the case.<\/p>\n On 13 October, Greek City Times reported on a separate gang accused of targeting children and the elderly by phone.<\/p>\n Gold coins remain a common store of wealth in Greece. Households privately hold some \u20ac5 billion in them, Greek City Times reported in December 2025.<\/p>\n Because of this, gold sovereigns remain a frequent target for thieves.<\/p>\n Source: Kathimerini<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\nHow the gold sovereigns disappeared<\/h3>\n
A constant headache for police<\/h3>\n