Upright manhunt

Asphalt fraudsters arrested on the spot

Fraudsters wanted to cash in on their victims with alleged residual asphalt material.

(Bild: Kronen Zeitung)

It went badly for brazen fraudsters in St. Andrä in the Carinthian district of Wolfsberg: when they tried to rip off a victim with supposedly cheap asphalting work, the police arrested the three Poles. Among other things, because their truck was on the wanted list in Italy. 

The offer seemed tempting: an alleged foreman approached a 43-year-old man in his yard in St. Andrä and offered to asphalt part of his driveway. The company had completed a job nearby and a supposedly small amount of asphalt was left over. This could be used at his place - only the working time of 48 euros per square meter would be charged, the material was free.

The potential victim agreed - and was later presented with a painful bill: Because instead of the "small remaining amount" of material, the three Poles asphalted the entire 240 square meter driveway. In the end, the 43-year-old was supposed to pay a total bill of 11,520 euros. The yard owner sensed a brazen scam - and had the presence of mind to alert the police.

Truck seized, suspects taken away
And rightly so: as it turned out, one of the trucks on site was on the wanted list of the Italian police. The officers subsequently seized the truck and arrested the three suspects on the spot after consulting with the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt.