Swindler thanks tellers with cream pie

The 36-year-old man, of Farsta, near Stockholm, Sweden, was arrested during the summer and has been sentenced for fraud and unrelated drug offenses, TT/ The Local reported Monday.

The man handed two phony checks to bank tellers and gave a fake telephone number to verify his checks. The teller phoned the number, spoke with the man's accomplice and approved the checks.

Two days later the fraudster came to the bank to pick up his loot. Dressed in a suit and exuding confidence, the man appeared on security camera footage walking with an employee to a vault to take out gold bars and euro notes.

After gaining possession of the money, the man handed a pie to the bank staff as a gesture of thanks.

A bank employee discovered the fraud when the man tried to get away with a third check, but by then he had escaped.

"A spectacularly executed crime which also resulted in a long prison sentence," prosecutor Eva Wintzell said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.