ALMOST 30 IRISH PEOPLE ARRESTED IN AUSTRALIA OVER HOUSING SCAM
26 Irish people have been arrested and had their visas cancelled in Western Australia in connection with a home renovation scam.
The ABC is reporting the alleged fraud involved conning elderly people in Perth into paying them for poor quality work, and it earned the group more than 100,000 dollars.
Police arrested seven Irish men, including two 17-year-old boys and another 19 Irish women and children.
100,000 dollars in cash and other items were also seized at a caravan park.
Irish Times journalist based in Australia, Pádraig Collins, says the public had been alerted about workmen with Irish accents were scamming elderly people in Perth.
“Some of them had cards…written on the card was an actual official roofing business – but they didn’t work for this company, they just had fake cards” he said.
“After that warning went out, the number of complaints went up rapidly – people recognised that this had happened to them”.
“Then the police moved on them yesterday, arresting seven” he added.
