{"id":574079,"date":"2026-03-30T11:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T11:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574079\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T11:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T11:44:09","slug":"romanian-trio-charged-accused-of-stealing-wallets-from-elderly-shoppers-in-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574079\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian trio charged accused of stealing wallets from elderly shoppers in Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Two men and a woman have been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from elderly people at shopping centres across Queensland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Police allege the trio would monitor victims, some aged between 70 and 94, as they used ATMs or paid for groceries at shopping centres at Kenmore, Chermside, Strathpine, North Lakes, Buddina, Caloundra and Laidley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It will further be alleged the group would approach the victim and claim they have dropped their wallet or cash,&#8221; police said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;While the victim is distracted, their wallet is taken and their cards are subsequently used fraudulently.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Detectives arrested three people at a unit complex in Eight Mile Plains on Saturday, where police said almost $20,000 was seized.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An unidentifiable man in a business shirt and gloves examines items in a residential unit.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/81411e79248b0c29c372139d3831a621.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Police say almost $20,000 was seized from a unit complex at Eight Mile Plains on Saturday. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A 49-year-old Romanian man has been charged with five counts of fraud, four counts of stealing and two counts of enter with intent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A 29-year-old Romanian woman has been charged with eight counts of fraud, four counts of stealing and two counts of enter with intent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">They both appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on 28 March and have been refused bail, with their matters adjourned until April 15.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A 42-year-old Romanian man has been charged with one count of stealing. He was bailed to reappear in the Southport Magistrates Court on April 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Police say investigations are continuing, including possible links to NSW and Victoria, and that &#8220;further arrests are expected&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men and a woman have been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from elderly people at shopping&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[281836,43,44,4106,281835,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-574079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-elderly-targeted-by-thieves-queensland","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-queensland-police","tag-queensland-shopping-centre-thefts","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}