On the highway

Linz woman (66) pursued the perpetrators after the theft

Karin Schütz drove to Spain in this VW Golf. Just outside Barcelona, the 66-year-old became a victim of criminals who stopped her car.

(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

The next victim of the "Barcelona gang": A pensioner from Linz had all her valuables stolen on the highway in Spain on the way to the Catalan capital, but the 66-year-old fought for her belongings. And risked a lot in the process.

"The same thing happened to me by a hair's breadth" - with these words, Karin Schütz (66) contacted the "Krone". The woman from Linz may also have been a victim of the "Barcelona gang", which is up to mischief on the highway around the Spanish coastal city, apparently targeting tourists with foreign license plates.

Another victim from Upper Austria
Most recently, a 41-year-old woman driving from Upper Austria to Spain was stopped and robbed by con artists under a pretext - we reported.

According to Karin Schütz, who was visiting her daughter who lives in Mallorca and was therefore driving her VW Golf from Linz to Spain, the scam went like this: "About 30 kilometers before Barcelona, someone overtook me and told me to stop, as if my car was on fire. After driving 700 kilometers that day, I thought to myself that this could really be the case."

Handbag was gone
So the 66-year-old pulled over to the side of the road and got behind the car with the unknown man who had stopped her. "Then he unscrewed my tire valve. I immediately put it back on, and when I straightened up, I saw that my handbag was gone from the passenger seat," says Schütz.

Suddenly everything was gone
Passport, cell phone, wallet - everything was stolen from the pensioner from Linz, apparently by a second perpetrator. Because she would have been lost without her valuables in the middle of Spain - "I wouldn't even have found the embassy" - she drove after the criminals and pursued them. According to Schütz, the thieves opened her rear car door and threw the bag out. Everything was still there, "only" around 600 euros in cash was missing. The police confirmed that they had received a report about the incident.

Warning to other travelers
Now the pensioner wants to warn other travelers: The unknown perpetrators had previously made their license plate unrecognizable, which tourists could use to recognize them in the future.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry is also aware of the scam on the Spanish highway: "Pay attention to your luggage and do not leave the car without locking it," the ministry advises online.