Photos released of fake nurses using blood pricks to dupe elderly out of debit cards

The police released photos of a man and a woman who posed as nurses and used a story of a prevailing flu epidemic to talk their way into a 90-year-old man's Eindhoven home, and then robbed him. "The blood test chat-scam, don't fall for it!", the police said.

According ot the police, the woman took the elderly victim's blood with a finger prick while the man went searching through his home for valuables and money. The victim was told that his blood value was poor, but that a pill could fix it. He had to pay just 1 euro to order the pills - using the a payment machine the "nurse" had handy with her.

And so the scammers got hold of the victim's PIN, which they used with his stolen bank card to withdraw 4 thousand euros from his account at Woensel shopping center in Heeze, the police said. The photos of the duo were taken at the ATM.

According to newspaper AD, similar cases have also been reported in Delft and in Utrecht. Earlier this week the police said that they think a group working in different formations may be behind this scam.

This chat scam goes further than other typically used methods, because it "compromises physical integrity", a police spokesperson said to AD. "We are not dealing with a few brutal young people, but with an organized gang."