A massive and lengthy police investigation resulted in the arrest of no less than 30 individual individuals around Greece on Thursday on charges related to phone scams and thefts by suspects impersonating power company technicians, accountants and municipal workers.

Some of the suspects were already incarcerated and accused of running a criminal organization out of prison. More individuals are wanted on outstanding warrants.

The suspects, part of an alleged network of smaller rings in a loose cooperation, are accused of engaging in more than 1,000 instances of fraud and thefts, with the estimated “take” valued at more than 7.6 million euros.

The suspects mostly targeted elderly victims, a phenomenon that has taken on almost “urban legend” proportions in the country over the past years, with practically everyone in the country knowing a household that has been targeted.

One of the most frequently used ruses involved a caller contacting an elderly homeowner to warn of a threat of an “electricity leak” or short-circuit, advising the latter to pack metal valuables and jewelry into aluminum foil or to place them into a plastic container and on the roof or even to throw them off the balcony.

At times suspects would show up outside residences and apartment buildings posing at power company technicians, in order to try to gain entrance into homes. Once there they would use various techniques to fool the occupants into giving over their valuables. In some few instances, violence was used against elderly people.

Suspects posing as “accountants” over the phone, or even surprising unsuspecting citizens on the street by mentioning family members by their real names, would then maintain that they need to pay a sum in order for their close relative to receive a much larger tax bureau refund.

A widespread scam in previous years had callers frantically telling people, again usually senior citizens, that a loved one had been severely injured or had injured someone else in a traffic accident, and that an “associate” would rush by to pick up cash or valuables in order to commence an emergency operation or to avoid jail.

Authorities on Thursday most of the suspects were arrested at or near Roma (gypsy) settlements.