Bill goes from €74 to €740 for a crate of fruit and vegetables: how elderly people were scammed

Crates of fruit and vegetables were billed to elderly people at €740 instead of €74, €250 instead of €25 (illustration photo). gpointstudio – ENVATO ELEMENTS

Two men had to answer for fraud in the street sale of fruit and vegetables before the judicial court of Caen, in Calvados, on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

On the customers' accounts, the bill went from 74 to 740 euros, from 25 to 250 euros or from 108 to 708 euros. This Thursday, October 3, 2024, two men were summoned to the Caen judicial court in Calvados to answer charges of fraud in the street sale of fruits and vegetables, reports Ouest-France.

The events took place between February and June 2022. Only the manager of the former company has been tried so far.

Fraudulent billing

Eleven elderly people, approached at home, were allegedly victims of these fraudulent invoices.

The manager of the company, for his part, accuses his son-in-law while acknowledging violations of commercial legislation such as missing information on invoices or immediate collections. The forty-year-old also illegally employed four people.

"700 € to individuals, did that seem possible to you ?"

"But sales of 700 € to individuals, it seemed possible to you ?", asks an assessor, quoted by Ouest-France. "Yes, it's common. But I didn't check the accounts since I didn't declare anything, and then, I trusted him."

The lawyer for the only victim represented emphasizes that the employees had no interest in inflating a transaction, being paid per sale and not per amount and claims 2,800 euros compensation.

6 months in prison

The court ruled on a sentence of 6 months in prison with a 5-year ban on practicing and €1,540 in damages to be paid to the victim, reports Ouest-France. The son-in-law and employee will be tried later.