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- French police have warned about an Irish gang defrauding property owners by posing as builders.
- The gang offers to pave areas with tar at a far lower price than normal but the work is substandard.
- They actually belong to the Rathkeale Rovers, a criminal clan named after a town in Ireland.
Police in France have sounded the alarm about an Irish gang posing as builders to defraud property owners after some 2,000 complaints were filed in the past five years, Le Parisien reported.
The Information, Intelligence and Strategic Analysis Service on Organized Crime (Sirasco) published a confidential note in February about "faux bitumeurs," or fake tarmackers.
This tarmacking scam is the main activity of the "Irish Travellers," according to the report, who are actually members of the Rathkeale Rovers, a criminal clan named after a town in Ireland.
Arthur, an asparagus grower in the Landes region, said he was approached by "builders" who claimed to have surplus tar. He saw it as an opportunity to pave an area of his farm and paid about 2,000 euros ($2,200).
"They appeared to be professionals, and had younger builders who were presented as apprentices," Arthur told Le Parisien. However, just a few days after the work was finished, he said parts of the bitumen started coming off before it all came apart.
Another man from Maine-et-Loire wanted to redo the path to his home and paid 2,600 euros only to later discover the tarmac was mostly made of gravel.
The workers all had Irish accents, according to the newspaper.
"The tarmackers generally present themselves as road workers and offer tarring services on the pretext of a surplus of tar from another site," Sirasco, the anti-mafia service said in the note, adding that they usually charged between 7 and 13 euros per square meter rather than the typical 40 euros.
The police believe their targets are often people who are "old and isolated," the report said.
Some members of the Rathkeale Rovers were now living in France, authorities believe, acting as a "base" for the scammers, per Le Parisien.
Authorities were also concerned that the clan was also involved in trafficking rhino horn and ivory.
In 2021, a French court convicted eight men who were members of the clan in relation to smuggling ivory and rhino horns, The Guardian reported.
The French interior minister didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.