The fraudster
Filmed defrauding cashiers and arrested
After a newsstand owner released security-camera footage of a 52 year old who had concealed change then lied to obtain more money at several locations, the police arrested him. He promptly confessed.
The Israel Police apprehended on Friday a man who had been filmed tricking cashiers out of money by concealing already-issued change.
On Thursday, footage shared on social media showed the 52-year-old man from Rishon LeZion making a small purchase with a 200-shekel note at a newsstand. When the cashier issued him change, which included a 100-shekel note, the fraudster hid that note and claimed that he had been shortchanged, resulting in the cashier handing over another 100 shekels.
The owner of the newsstand originally posted the security-camera footage to Facebook with a request to the public for their assistance in locating the man who had allegedly stolen in a similar manger from “dozens of other business owners in Or Yehuda.” The post went on to describe that the man’s modus operandi in those other incidents were identical.
The business owner also wrote that this was “the second time in the last half year” that the same man had defrauded them.
As a result, the police began an investigation. After his arrest on Friday, the fraudster admitted to the infractions attributed to him and implicated himself in additional crimes during his questioning. He was to be brought on Saturday to the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for a remand hearing.
(Translated and edited by J. Herzog)
