Suspect in house scam to remain in custody

The Paphos criminal court ruled on Monday that a 66-year-old arrested in November in connection with scamming a retired teacher over €600,000 will remain in custody until his trial is set to begin in March.

The suspect was arrested on November 28 in connection with a case where a retired teacher was scammed into giving €600,000 to three men who pretended to be town planning employees.

Along with the 66-year-old, a 56-year-old from Nicosia has already been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, while police are still looking for the third person involved.

The case was reported in January this year, while the offences took place between October 2016 and November 2017.

The retired teacher was asked to hand over €600,000 to three men who pretended to be employees of the town planning department and told that her house would be listed and the money returned to her by the state.