Enormous damage

Police catch washing machine fraudsters

Detectives from the Villach municipal police command were able to uncover a serious commercial fraud in Villach.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

Two like Bonny and Clyde: although the couple did not rob any petrol stations or banks, they still caused damage amounting to several hundred thousand euros.

After extensive investigations, detectives from the Villach municipal police department were able to track down a couple of fraudsters. But let's start at the beginning: "A 55-year-old owner of an electrical company in Villach had worked with a non-profit housing cooperative in Villach for years by independently checking washing machines and dryers in communal laundry rooms and replacing defective appliances with new ones," the police say. 

Invoices issued, but appliances never delivered
At the end of August, however, a shrewd property manager noticed that invoices had been sent to the cooperative, but no appliances had been delivered. Now it's getting curious: when confronted with the accusation, the 55-year-old stated that an employee had allegedly confessed to the fraud to him. This employee, in turn, claims neither to have known about the whole scheme nor to be an employee of the electrical company. Several recordings are said to corroborate this statement. 

Following judicial authorization from the public prosecutor's office in Klagenfurt, the apartment of the owner of the electrical company was searched: "Various computers, cell phones, data carriers and written records of the 55-year-old man and his 46-year-old wife were seized for further evaluation," the police report. The pair of crooks have been reported several times - they have not yet given a motive. The damage currently amounts to several hundred thousand euros.