Later he would visit them at home and rob them of cash and credit cards by feeding them coffee and cake laced with sedatives.
Police in Paris have arrested a 64-year-old man suspected of burgling up to 20 people,
He was detained soon after his latest alleged burglary on Tuesday, French newspaper Le Parisien reports.
Apparently always acting alone, the burglar is believed to have committed his first such crime in May 2008, when a bottle of drugged wine was employed.
On at least one occasion, the burglar phoned a victim after stealing his or her bank card, posing as a policeman and asking for the PIN number as part of his inquiries.
The victims, aged 75-85, were robbed of cash and credit cards. He was active in the Lilas, Bagnolet and Montreuil suburbs of the French capital.
Trapped by smelling a Rat!
A woman of 88 who was targeted in September 2009 smelt a rat, and only pretended to eat the cake, which she artfully dropped in a bin when her gentleman caller went to use the toilet.
Pretending to fall asleep, she watched as he began searching her flat looking for his ill gotten booty.
Challenging the burglar, she made him leave, though he did manage to steal a sum of money nonetheless, the Newspaper Le Parisien wrote.
How to live in France forever!