French police have warned of an Irish gang defrauding homeowners by posing as builders. The gang offers to pave areas with tar at a much lower price than normal, but the work is substandard. They actually belong to the Rathkeale Rovers, a criminal clan named after a town in Ireland. Something is loading.
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French police have sounded the alarm over an Irish gang posing as builders to defraud owners after some 2,000 complaints have been filed in the past five years, Le Parisien reported.
The Information, Intelligence and Strategic Analysis Service on Organized Crime (Sirasco) published a confidential note in February on “false bitumens”.
This tarmacing scam is the main activity of “Irish Travellers”, according to the report, who are actually members of the Rathkeale Rovers, a criminal clan named after a town in Ireland.
Arthur, an asparagus farmer in the Landes, says he was approached by “builders” who claimed to have surplus tar. He saw it as an opportunity to pave part of his farm and paid around 2,000 euros ($2,200).
“They seemed to be professionals and had young builders who were presented as apprentices,” Arthur told Le Parisien. However, just days after work was completed, he said parts of the bitumen had started to come off before it all came apart.
Another man from Maine-et-Loire wanted to make his way back to his home and paid 2,600 euros only to find later that the tarmac was mostly gravel.
The workers all had Irish accents, according to the newspaper.
“The tarmackers generally present themselves as road workers and offer tarring services under the pretext of a surplus of tar coming from another construction site”, indicates Sirasco, the anti-mafia service in the note, adding that they generally charged between 7 and 13 euros per square. meter rather than the typical 40 euros.
Police believe their targets are often “elderly and isolated”, the report said.
Some members of the Rathkeale Rovers were now living in France, authorities said, acting as a “base” for the crooks, according to Le Parisien.
Authorities also feared that the clan was also involved in trafficking rhino horn and ivory.
In 2021, a French court convicted eight male clan members of smuggling ivory and rhino horn, The Guardian reported.
France’s interior minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.