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Fake Prince Albert 'cons Monte Carlo high-flyers'
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Crooks are impersonating top personalities in Monaco, including even Prince Albert II, to scam money from high-flying victims, according to reports Saturday in the Mediterranean principality. (Shutterstock/File)
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rooks are impersonating top personalities in Monaco, including even Prince Albert II, to scam money from high-flying victims, according to reports Saturday in the Mediterranean principality.
A Prince Albert lookalike had used a video contact supposedly from the ruler's own office to target the Riviera elite, the Monaco-Matin newspaper said.
The government of the millionaires' playground issued a statement confirming such hi-tech stings but without naming the prince, who boasts a fortune estimated at some two billion euros ($2.4 billion).
Read also: Monaco hotel invites couples to wed under the Mediterranean Sea
"For several weeks, individuals who are part of organised groups, have been stealing the identities of high-ranking personalities in the principality and trying to establish personal contact with them... notably through electronic messages, SMS or video-conferencing via a WhatsApp type of application," the statement said.
It described the targets as "leaders of society or people with responsibility" who were hit with an elaborate con.
Messages on headed notepaper from official bodies in Monaco signed apparently by the relevant people have been sent and calls can appear to come from the real numbers for the institution, the government added.
