3 Men Rob Family After Disguising Themselves As Medical Workers Who Administer COVID-19 Vaccine

KEY POINTS

The three men claimed they were medical workers administering vaccinations
An accused pulled out a gun when a woman tried to call her husband
The accused stole about 50 grams of gold from the house

Three men in India misused the growing fear of the recently detected coronavirus strain, Omicron, and robbed a family.

The miscreants claimed they were administering vaccines, before brandishing a gun and robbing Sampath Singh's house Monday in the city of Bengaluru in the southern state of Karnataka.

After they entered the house, one of the men, who wore hand gloves, told Sampath’s wife, Pista Devi, and her daughter-in-law, Raksha, he was a medical worker sent to administer vaccinations intended to protect people from the effects of the Omicron variant, the police revealed Tuesday, News Karnataka reported.

When Devi tried to call her husband, one of the accused pulled out a gun and held the two women at gunpoint. The women were then locked up inside a room, while the accused robbed them of about 50 grams of their gold.

When the men were about to leave, Devi's elder son Vikram Singh came home. One of the accused continued with the guise, and asked Vikram if he got his COVID-19 vaccination. Right after Vikram said he received both his jabs, the robbers fled from the area with the family’s gold, according to Midday.

The mugged family soon informed the police about the robbery, and the cops began an investigation to nab the robbers.

In a similar incident, some muggers in the U.K. tricked a 92-year-old woman into believing her neighbor died after contracting the coronavirus. The men arrived at her front door in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and offered to clean her house after making up the fake story, according to the BBC. Once the miscreants gained entry into the elderly woman’s house, they took her purse, money and jewelry. The police said the thieves presented themselves as a “helping hand” and left the woman “understandably distraught.” "This is an absolutely appalling crime, which has taken advantage of a vulnerable and elderly woman at a time where we, as a society, should be looking out for her," police officer Trevor Harrison said.