Five trips to Bucharest with a total of 236,600 BGN and 5,000 euros hidden in tights wrapped around her waist. A 71-year-old woman from a small town in Bulgaria says she traveled alone to Romania to hand over her life savings to “Alo” scammers. For two months, she believed she was participating in a secret police operation. The pensioner lives alone, has no husband or children.
„I carried the money in my tights, tied low below my stomach at my waist so that it was under my control. "I have a slightly stooped posture and I was wearing a loose blouse so that they wouldn't be noticed," the woman says.
It all started in mid-July of this year after a seemingly harmless call to the landline. "A gentleman called me and said he was from the energy company, that they needed to come check the electricity meter, and asked for the exact address, name, and phone number. To which I replied that the energy company knew exactly where the electricity meter was, we had no damage, and there was nothing for them to come for," she recalls.
The conversation ended for the woman, but not for the scammers. The next day, another male voice called her, again on the landline. He introduced himself as Inspector Petar Petrov from the State Anti-Corruption Bureau.
„And he said to me: „Are you being harassed by someone on the phone, wanting to come in?". I replied: “Yes, some of the energy guys tried yesterday, but their number didn't work“, the pensioner says. The imaginary policeman explains: “These are telephone scammers that we are trying to catch. I am from the Sofia Crime and Punishment Unit, I have come to your city to help my colleagues catch them. 22 people have been injured in your city“. To scare her, he adds: “The last time they beat up an elderly family two days ago, the man had a stroke, the woman is in a pre-infarction state“.
Frightened by fear, the pensioner believed that she was being watched by scammers and that her savings were in danger. The imaginary inspector tells her: “A jeep drove by and left a device in front of your door that detects where you have put your money and valuables“.
The psychological harassment continued. Another call followed. This time, a third man nicknamed the Doctor began to threaten and curse her. "In a very rude, cynical tone. He shouted a bunch of cynicism at me and said: "You owe me 200,000 leva, 100,000 euros, I want them tomorrow. You will not go to the police or the bank. Otherwise, I will cut off your ears, I will blow your brains out," the woman says.
And at that very moment, the person posing as Inspector Petar Petrov from the Directorate of the Criminal Investigation and Prevention of Corruption stepped into the role of savior. He promised the woman to capture the Doctor and the people from his group. To do this, however, she had to cooperate with the imaginary police officers by participating in their secret operation.
„The Doctor called me on my landline, and the inspector on my mobile. He is the criminal who wants my money, and the inspector is the good guy. He will save my money, they are hiring me a guard“, explains the victim. “He managed to convince me that he is from the police, that I am their collaborator, they are protecting me and they need to know what is happening, who I am talking to, who is coming“.
Frightened and without thinking, the elderly woman began to carry out the orders of the imaginary police officer. The instructions were strict: “Whatever you have at home, wrap it in aluminum foil - the idea is that it will not be picked up by scanners“. They told her to buy a phone “one of the ordinary ones with buttons“ and a SIM card in her name, so that they could stay in touch. They sent her to increase the limit on her bank cards, and then to withdraw the money.
A week after the first call, the pensioner received an order to urgently take a train to Ruse, and from there to catch a taxi to Romania. “One morning the Doctor called me at 5 am and said: “Today I want you in Ruse, with the money. You put it in a sock, on your waist and come“, she says. Immediately afterwards “Inspector Petrov“ confirmed: “Yes, you will really have to evacuate. Take some luggage, for one or two evenings. Take the money and evacuate“.
From Ruse, the woman was taken by a taxi organized by “Alo” the fraudsters, to a hotel in the center of Bucharest, where she left the first amount - 45,600 leva and 5,000 euros. “The phone to your ear. You enter the quiet alley, sit on the bench, look around, put the money in a bag and drop it under the bench. And then, go, go quickly in the opposite direction, you won't turn around, go faster“, she describes the instructions. When asked why she believed that a policeman would make her do this, she answers: “Common sense is that they will catch him“.
Instead of stopping, the man posing as a police officer managed to convince her to bring more money. "He very shyly asked: "Since your colleagues like you very much, you are disciplined, intelligent, and understanding, could you go again with a larger amount," the woman recalls. The logic they presented to her was: "More money, for more gravity in the crime that these telephone scammers committed, as this will guarantee them a greater sentence."
The victim traveled four more times. The second time she left 45,000 leva, the third - 30,000, the fourth - 86,000 and the fifth - 30,000. Only the place to leave the money was different. The role of Inspector Petrov was taken on by a fictitious prosecutor Damyanov. The woman kept what was happening a secret from her relatives.
The pensioner brought her last money to the scammers at the end of September. After she got home, the phone went silent, and "Inspector Petrov" and "Prosecutor Damyanov" disappeared. "We were supposed to talk every few days, but they disappeared. They said the operation was ending," the victim said. "When we stopped communicating with Inspector Petrov, he told me to destroy the phone, break it, destroy all receipts for withdrawals, hotel receipts, travel tickets, and I burned them in the fireplace."
When asked how she believed it, given that she is constantly warned about such scams, the woman replied: "Don't ask me anymore. I have no explanation." First of all, fear is a terrible thing that blocks, paralyzes“. She adds that the fraudsters behaved very concerned, asking her: “Have you taken your medication, have you measured your blood pressure, have you measured your sugar? Are you sleeping well, have you had breakfast because of your diabetes?“.
The woman filed a police report. Pre-trial proceedings have been initiated in the case. According to Zlatka Padinkova from the General Directorate of the National Police, pre-trial proceedings were initiated on October 23, the goal of which is to collect as much information as possible in order to issue a European investigation order.
“These cases are isolated. They are more like a precedent. It is relatively rare for elderly people to travel to the territory of another country“, Padinkova commented. She gave an example of a more striking case from 2022, when an elderly woman from Sofia traveled to Romania, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to hand over money and gold worth over 300,000 leva, believing that she was cooperating with the police.
Padinkova explains the psychological mechanism: “Thinking becomes tunnel-like. At one point, you stop thinking because some form of control is constantly being exercised over you. On the other hand, you are given importance for participating in an international operation“. The largest fraud over the years was worth 600,000 leva, and at that time the victim had been in contact with the fraudsters for more than a year.
Statistics show that in recent months the number of “allo” frauds has increased. “For the nine months of this year, we have an increase of 23% compared to the same period in 2024. The number of completed phone scams is 286“, Padinkova announced. 143 people have been detained, involved in over 170 phone scams.
As a novelty, the police indicate that the fraudsters are recruiting “mules“ through advertisements for collaborators to collect donations for the church, or by contacting roadside assistance companies.
“If they ask you for money over the phone, no matter who and for what reason, this is a phone scam. Do not give money, end the conversation“, warns Padinkova. And she adds that the criminals are now calling not only landlines, but also mobile phones.