Greek police arrested two men, aged 56 and 30, after a raid in the Attica town of Fyli on the earlier this month, dismantling what they say is a criminal ring that posed as electricity company employees to defraud residents of jewelry and cash.
Both face charges of forming and joining a criminal organization, aggravated theft and fraud as a repeat professional crime, and money laundering.
They were taken before a prosecutor.
Police said the pair have been active since at least April 2026. They allegedly picked victims from phone directories and called them pretending to work for a power utility, citing pretexts such as an electricity leak.
They then persuaded victims to gather jewelry and money and leave it at set spots inside or outside their homes, where the thieves collected it.
To avoid detection, the suspects allegedly used many phone lines registered to unknown people and moved around in the 56-year-old's car, which they used as an "operational" vehicle.
Investigators have so far solved four cases across Attica, with illegal proceeds of €49,000. Police said both men have been in trouble before for similar offenses.
The case follows other busts of similar rings.
Last month, police in Zefyri arrested eight people in a group that allegedly stole more than €700,000 by calling victims as utility technicians and accountants, using recorded utility hold messages and police siren sounds to seem convincing. Another ring used AI-cloned relatives' voices.
Authorities urge residents to treat any unexpected call from a "utility worker" with suspicion, never to leave valuables outside the home, and to call police on 100.