Scammer Poses as ‘God’, Asks Woman for Deposits at ‘Bank of Heaven’

A Spanish man stands accused of taking advantage of an overly-religious old woman by posing as her Lord and Savior and asking her to deposit money at His ‘Church of Heaven’. Could you say ‘no’ to God? What if He called you directly to ask for a favor? Esperanza, an elderly woman from León, in northwestern Spain, could not refuse God when He called her on her telephone and told her to put her savings in His ‘Church of Heaven’, because it offered better interest than earthly ones. The woman never once suspected that she was being scammed, as she was convinced that she was a ‘chosen of the Virgin’ long before receiving the call, so getting a direct call from the Almighty didn’t really seem that strange. Over six years, Esperanza followed God’s instructions and deposited around 300,000 euros in a small drawer at a local convenience store, convinced the money would end up at a heavenly church… Read More »

81-Year-Old Granny Arrested for Ordering the Killing of a Police Officer

An 81-year-old Russian woman with ties to the criminal underworld of Krasnodar was recently arrested for ordering the killing of a criminal investigations detective. Lyudmila Ryabykh is not your average grandmother. Not only does the 81-year-old have a strong connection to members of Krasnodar’s organized crime, but she once threatened to kill a paramedic with a sawed-off shotgun and she recently placed a hit on a local detective that apparently rubbed her the wrong way. The pensioner was caught red-handed after ordering the killing of an officer from the Krasnodar police department and paying part of the reward for proof of his death. Unfortunately for her, Ryabykh didn’t know that her criminal associates had revealed her plan to the authorities, and she now risks spending the rest of her days behind bars. Read More »

Lawyer Maxes Out Credit Card at Shopping Mall, Fakes Kidnapping to Get Out of Paying

A Brazilian lawyer is currently under investigation after allegedly spending over 13,000 Brazilian reals ($2,700) at a shopping mall, and then claiming that someone had kidnapped him and used his credit card. On May 19th, Rodrigo Barcelos de Oliveira, a lawyer from Rio de Janeiro, stormed into the 16th police precinct of the Brazilian city to report a serious crime. He told officers that earlier that day he was driving down the Avenida das Américas road when he was approached by two armed men on motorcycles and forced to pull over in the parking lot of Barra Shopping Center, a mall in the west side of Rio. There, one of the men took his credit card and spent five hours shopping around, while the other guy held him at gunpoint. He gave the men the PIN code to the card and they used it to the limit set by the bank. The kidnappers then left with the purchased products, his jewelry, phone, wallet and wedding ring. Read More »

Gas Station Clerk Asks Someone to Rob Him So He Could Leave Work Early

A Tulsa gas station clerk is being accused of staging a robbery because he felt tired and needed an excuse to get off work early. On June 5th, Isaias Jones called the Tulsa Police Department that a masked man had walked into the gas station store he was working in, pulled out a firearm, and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t give him all the money in the register. Jones allegedly complied and the masked robber left in a hurry. Surveillance cameras confirmed the clerk’s version of the events, but the footage also helped police identify the robber, and when they managed to apprehend them, they learned that there was more to this case than they originally believed… Read More »

Woman Dies After Eating Poisoned Chocolates Sent by Her Ex-Boyfriend’s Jealous Lover

A Brazilian woman tragically lost her life after eating poisoned chocolates she believed were a birthday present from her ex, but had in fact been sent by his jealous lover. On May 20th, Lindaci Viegas Batista de Carvalho, celebrated her 54th birthday. It was also the day she died. The woman received a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers from an anonymous source, and after calling a number of friends and relatives to find out who had sent her the gift, she contacted her ex-boyfriend Mário Sérgio Gratital, who confirmed that he had indeed sent her flowers and chocolates. Reassured, the woman ate some chocolates and then went to a salon to get her hair done. According to eyewitnesses, soon after leaving the salon, Lindaci fell on the sidewalk and started having seizures. Military police arrived on the scene and rushed her to Rio de Janeiro’s Hospital do Andaraí, but she was pronounced dead on arrival. Read More »

Thieves Rent Entire Hotel, Spend a Month Digging Tunnel to Oil Pipeline

A gang of eight was recently apprehended just as they were about to reach their goal – an oil pipeline – after spending a whole month digging a secret tunnel to it from their hotel. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency recently reported the capture of eight criminals who had rented an entire hotel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, and spent an entire month digging a secret underground tunnel from it to a nearby oil pipeline. The plan is believed to have been masterminded by a former employee of Korea’s state-run pipeline operator Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation who had been previously fired for attempting to steal oil from another pipeline. They had rented a hotel near their target under the pretext of wanting to acquire it, and spent most of their day digging using rudimentary tools in order to avoid attracting attention with loud noises. Read More »

Useless Thieves Steal 220 Sneakers from Store, All for the Right Foot

A trio of Peruvian thieves managed to make international news headlines after pulling off one of the dumbest heists in history – 220 sneakers from various brands, all for the right foot. The hilarious crime occurred on April 30th, at a sports goods store in Huancayo, central Peru. At around 03:30 am, three men managed to cut the padlocks at the back of the store and steal three large crates filled with sneaker boxes from various brands. What the thieves didn’t realize was that all the shoeboxes they stole only contained sneakers for the right foot, as the owner had prepared the three crates to have the footwear displayed at a local sports goods fair. Authorities suspect that the thieves have hidden their haul, as there is no way that they can sell the sneakers on the black market without their pairs. Read More »

Mother of the Year – Woman Allegedly Orders Murder of Her Own Daughter for an Apartment

A Russian woman has been accused of hiring a contract killer to have her own daughter murdered in order to get her hands on the woman’s apartment. A 67-year-old woman from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, is being accused of ordering the murder of her 48-year-old daughter so she could inherit her apartment. According to investigators, the pensioner shared her ominous intentions with a local acquaintance who told her that they knew someone who could pull it off, for a fee. On April 19, 2023, the acquaintance set up a meeting between the woman and the would-be perpetrator of the murder in a park on Odesskaya Street, in the city of Krasnoyarsk, during which they discussed the details and method of committing the crime. The woman allegedly promised to pay the contract killer 80,000 rubles ($1,040) once he produced evidence of her daughter’s murder. Read More »

Gambling Grandpa Holds 4-Year-Old Granddaughter for Ransom from His Own Daughter

A 65-year-old Chinese pensioner shocked his entire nation after it was reported that he kidnapped his own granddaughter and demanded over $70,000 as ransom. Chinese news media recently reported the bizarre case of a gambling-addicted grandfather who kidnapped his 4-year-old granddaughter and held her for ransom, asking his own daughter to pay him 500,000 yuan ($72,500) if she ever wanted to see her child again. The bizarre story, which shocked and outraged millions of Chinese, began when the man, surnamed Yuan, went to pick up his young granddaughter from school. Only instead of taking her home to her parents, the called the 65-year-old man phoned the little girl’s daughter, his own daughter, to tell her that she needed to pay him half a million yuan if she wanted to see her little girl again.

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Man Casually Leaves Jail by Impersonating Sleeping Cellmate Due for Release

A bold inmate managed to nonchalantly walk out of the Southwest Washington jail on Monday by impersonating another man who was due for release that day. Brian Francisco Roman was in jail on a drug possession charge, but when he woke up Monday morning and heard a guard calling the name of a cellmate due for release that day, he saw an opportunity to regain his freedom. Since he and his sleeping cellmate looked similar, he decided impersonating him was worth a shot, and his bet paid off. Not only was Roman escorted out of the cell, but he was given his unnamed cellmate’s things, including his clothes, keys, and wallet, before being released. Guards only realized what had happened when the man due to be released woke up and started asking when he was going home. Read More »

Drug Trafficker Pretends to Be Young Mother by Dressing Cat in Infant’s Clothes

Police in Russia recently arrested a woman who reportedly dressed a cat in thick baby clothing in order to look like an innocent young mother and traffic dangerous drugs. It’s a well-documented fact that drug traffickers come up with all sorts of ingenious techniques to move their products undisturbed. We’ve written about drugs diluted in women’s breast implants, or concealed in hollowed-out coffee beans, but these methods pale in comparison to that used by a young Russian woman trying to conceal packets of methamphetamines in the city of Nizhny Tagil. According to police spokeswoman Irina Volk, the unnamed woman was spotted walking hand in hand with a little girl and pushing a stroller with what looked like a baby inside. It’s unclear whether police were tipped off about the woman, or they simply noticed something off about her, but neither she nor her baby were what they seemed. Read More »

Widow Seduces Man Who Had Her Husband Killed, Turns Him Over to Authorities

A Colombian woman who lost her husband at the hands of a local crime boss, spent years planning her revenge, seducing him and gathering evidence to have him arrested for multiple crimes. In what sounds like the script of a Hollywood blockbuster, a Colombian woman managed to do what the police and the military could not – avenge the death of her husband and bring a dangerous criminal to justice. The unnamed woman was hailed as a hero by police and journalists in Cordoba, Colombia, after spending years getting close to a cunning criminal and gathering enough evidence to have them prosecuted. But she was no crime fighter, just a grieving widow getting revenge on the man who had had her husband assassinated years before… Read More »

Man Robs Bank for $1 For the Specific Purpose of Getting Sent to Federal Prison

Most people would go out of their way to avoid ending up behind bars, but one Utah man actually robbed a bank for only $1 just so he could get arrested and thrown into federal prison. 65-year-old Donald Santacroce just pulled off one of the most bizarre bank robberies in history. He reportedly walked into a Wells Fargo Bank near 300 South Main Street in Salt Lake City on Monday morning and handed over a note to one of the tellers. The piece of paper read “Please pardon me for doing this but this is a robbery. Please give me $1.00 Thank you.” The teller must have thought it was a joke, because they complied with Santacroce’s demand, but also asked him to leave with his $1. Only he told them that he had just robbed the bank and that they should probably call the police. He then sat down in the bank lobby and waited to be arrested… Read More »

Man Who Robbed Gas Station for $23 Spends 14 Years Hiding in Mountain Cave

A Chinese man who carried out a gas station robbery in 2009 and walked away with 156 yuan ($22.50) spent the last 14 years of his life hiding from the cops in a remote mountain cave. Liu Moufu, from a village in  Enshi City, China’s Hubei province, was in his mid-30s when he took part in a gas station robbery along with his brother-in-law and another accomplice. They ended up with 156 yuan ($22.50) between them, 60 of which they quickly spent on some food and fireworks, which left them with just 32 yuan ($4.6) each. The three men parted ways, but it wasn’t long before police found Liu’s accomplices and arrested them. The man realized it was only a matter of time before authorities showed up at his doorstep, so he decided to go into hiding rather than risk prison time. Little did he know he would spend the next 14 years in a prison of his own making… Read More »

Colombian Police Releases Wanted Criminal Poster With No Photos or Names

Police in Santa Marta, Colombia, recently attracted criticism for publishing a wanted poster of alleged cartel members with no actual photos or names. On January 2nd, the Santa Marta police department published a poster of 12 of the most wanted criminals in the Colombian town, asking the general public for help in apprehending the alleged criminals, who were all members of the “Los Pachenca” drug cartel. All 12 individuals were also suspects in a series of criminal acts committed in Santa Marta in recent months, so it made sense to ask locals for assistance in catching them as soon as possible. The only problem was that the published poster only mentioned the suspects’ nicknames instead of their actual names and the same generic graphic where their photos should have been… Read More »