Although the following incidents took place on Lanzarote, it could serve as a warning closer to home; the Covid desinfection scam.

The Guardia Civil on the island caught wind of a group of conmen who were targeting the elderly, claiming that they were from the Town Hall and had come to disinfect, free of charge, the house of the Covid-19 virus.

Readers are well aware of the gasmen scam where bona-fide gas fitters come to the door to say that they have to carry out an obligatory check of gas installations (which is not true), overcharging tremendously for the service, or alternatively, thieves (normally working in pairs) posing as gas fitters gain access in order to steal while the owner is distracted by the accomplice.

This, then, is a variation of the scam but targeting the same kind of victim; the elderly or foreigners with little grasp of the language.

The scam operates like this: the swindlers come round dressed in PPEs with badges belonging to well known disinfection companies in the area (this was the case in Lanzarote).

Once inside the house, they keep the victims either waiting outside the house or in a room, whilst they are supposedly disinfecting the rest of the house but in reality they go through drawers in the bedrooms, etc, in search of valuables.

They also carry false business IDs. They might also offer to install a “geolocator” for a ridiculously cheap price in order to get the victim to fill in documents with their fiscal details, including their bank account details.

Now, this sort of scam has not been reported in this part of Spain, but best to be forewarned as it won’t be long before somebody tries it here.

Important note: the photo is of a fully-licensed operator disinfecting a room and does not represent, in any way, anything illegal or detrimental to the said disinfection company to whom this photo belongs.

(News: Lanzarote, Canary Islands)