Two men have been arrested in France accused of defrauding elderly people out of thousands of euros for allegedly treating bed bugs.

According to the Strasbourg police, those arrested promised to go to the homes of their victims, where they would offer their fake services for exorbitant sums of money. In total they managed to scam 48 people, many of them women over 90 years old.

In recent months there has been an increase in bed bug incidents across France. The issue has sparked concern across the country, with government officials scrambling to find solutions to the problem.

However, health experts have warned that the spate of incidents has led to an increase in fake news and unwarranted hysteria.

The scam was as follows: The perpetrators would call their victims and tell them that bed bugs had been found in their neighborhood.

They then visited the houses pretending to be health workers and sprayed the areas with spray.

In addition, they also gave an ointment that they said would keep bugs away from human skin. The salve was actually a simple eucalyptus-scented cream.

Victims were charged between 300 and 2,100 euros.

Police had received nine complaints and the suspects were eventually arrested as they left the victim’s home in Strasbourg.