Operation Dracula

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Romanian trio arrested
Holiday rental scam
Three Romanian nationals living in Tenerife were arrested on charges of conning holidaymakers out of money using an elaborate Internet ruse.




The three, two men and a woman in their 20s, were taken into custody as part of Operation Dracula, which was launched by police here after multiple complaints by clients who paid up front for holiday accommodation only to find that the money had gone to people who had no connection with the accommodation.  According to police, the Romanians cloned genuine ads for apartments in tourist resorts and inserted their own contact details.  When interested customers got in touch, they were given bank details to lodge a deposit to secure the let or, depending on the date, the full amount of the rental.  More than twenty victims contacted police when they discovered that the accommodation had never been booked through the genuine owners and was not available on arrival.  Cybercrime officers traced the activities of the trio, including the bank accounts used, to Tenerife where they were arrested.