PSP has identified 80 bogus violent crime reports in the municipalities of Odivelas and Loures in Lisbon since the beginning of 2018, representing almost 10% of the serious crimes recorded since then. This is according to the PSP Lisbon Metropolitan Command, through the Loures Police Division, quoted in a statement.

They added that this jeopardizes the safety of the community, as the PSP have to deal with these complaints thus detracting from their other work.

During August 2019, PSP counted ten such cases, namely alleged theft of mobile phones, whose complaints were filed at the police stations of Odivelas and Loures.

“Most of the complaints dealt with alleged scenarios of theft of mobile phones, which are insured and of very high value, sometimes reaching above 1000 euros,” said the PSP.

In the light of the events of the past month, the authorities contacted the “alleged injured parties” and found “various weaknesses, inconsistences and contradictions in their testimony, which inevitably led them to admit that their complaint were false.”

In the press release, PSP also said that insurers were informed of the scam in order to ascertain if they had been approached in making bogus claims.

The suspects were constituted defendants and subject to a term of identity and residence.

However, the authorities also point out two situations of false allegations concerning alleged car thefts.