A new telephone scam is gaining momentum in our country. The organizers, who pose as employees of institutions, are in the former Soviet republics, say the Ministry of Interior. But here they work with financial mules. The victims are forced to take out large loans or withdraw their savings. The scammers abuse the name of the Ministry of Interior and the Bulgarian National Bank to deceive their victims, reports Nova TV.
She is afraid and ashamed. That is why she will remain anonymous. She is 25 years old. She studies and works. She is at home when she receives a call from an unknown number. On the other side is a woman posing as an employee of the Ministry of Interior.
"It was Friday morning and I received a phone call, they told me that Simeon tried to take out a loan in my name, using my details. And right now it was in the final stages of approval and if I don't take urgent measures it will be withdrawn," she points out. And she adds that it is in the amount of 10 thousand leva.
He explains to her that we must act very quickly to prevent the loan from being withdrawn in her name. To do this - she must withdraw.
"They told me how I had to go to my bank to zero out my potential and the loan could not be withdrawn", she added.
Without hesitation or thinking, she heads to the nearest bank branch and applies for a loan.
"By some coincidence, the bank was 3 minutes away, I asked for a loan, they offered me 50 thousand leva. They asked me what I would do with this amount. They had prepared me in advance and told me that in a few hours the loan would be approved and I would be able to receive my money. I went home to my apartment, I was not allowed to hang up the phone. All this continued for 8 hours. When I hung up, they immediately called again," the woman said.
It turns out that the fraudsters monitor their victim's every step. Not only by phone. They also knew when she left the apartment and how she was dressed.
The loan was delayed. This made the fraudsters nervous, who forced her to constantly go to the bank branch and insist on giving her the money. They wanted it in cash. She received it in the afternoon. 50 thousand leva.
They told her that the bank was issuing counterfeit banknotes. Thus, other fraudsters, who pretended to be employees of the BNB and the Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering, joined the conversation. They were supposed to take care of the supposedly fake money.
"After I received the money, they instructed me to put it in a bag and go home, telling me to count the banknotes and what types there were. They emphasized the fact that the banknotes were fake and that I would have to deal with the court and the police, so I had to hand them over. They told me that a representative of the Bulgarian National Bank would come to my apartment. I had to give him the money for verification," the victim also recalls.
The telephone connection never stopped for a moment. She closes shortly before meeting the supposed bank representative who takes the money.
"A man came up to me from the hallway of my apartment building, he was thin, he had a hoodie, they kept telling me all sorts of things, they kept my mind busy, there wasn't a second of silence, the man approached me, I said the code, I gave him the money, the man left", she adds.
It took her a few days to realize that she had become a victim of fraud.
"A day or two after the incident, after my psyche had rested, I didn't sleep, I realized what had happened. I couldn't sleep for fear, they knew a lot about me and I needed time to rest", the woman adds.
These phone scams are relatively new. But they are gaining momentum. In recent months, the number of victims has increased dramatically. Unlike other phone scams, the targets here are young people.
"Younger people are the victims, this is a phone scam, but with a different scenario. The age range of the victims is 20-40 years, the total amount is about 300 thousand leva so far. They put a person in a panic situation and explain that the money will be misappropriated or a loan will be drawn. And in such a situation you stop thinking rationally," said Chief Inspector Stefan Popov, who is the head of the "Child Crime and Criminal Contingent" sector at the State Department of Internal Affairs.
According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the ideologists of the scam are outside Bulgaria and financial mules are used. They collect the money from the victims and hand it over to them. Some have already been arrested.
This creates the feeling that it is not a phone scam. According to the investigation, "those who were stung" are not in danger - the moment the scammer realizes that they will give him the money, he sends the mule and breaks off contact. If during the conversation they feel that the person will not give in, they immediately break off the connection.
They choose the victims randomly, and the phones are taken from the Internet, the Ministry of Internal Affairs claims. They call from real numbers that they clone. The fraudster uses a Bulgarian number that either does not exist or there is a real person behind it who has nothing to do with the scheme.
According to psychologists, the real number of victims is much higher than the one in the Ministry of Interior data. The reason is that many are ashamed and do not report it.
Psychologist Velina Vladimirova believes that the latency is high. "When you realize what happened, the feeling of guilt and shame is very high and many are not willing to tell even their loved ones because they feel ashamed that they were lied to and we are not talking about people from a low social class, on the contrary, anyone can become a victim of such fraud," she explained.
According to her, people succumb because such calls are stressful and in most cases are related to urgency, and this causes people to fall into sudden stress - they act without thinking. "The victims are told that they are in great danger, and then the factor of constant attention retention comes into play, the victim cannot think. Fraudsters use structures that people respect", says Vladimirova.
In addition to financial losses, these scams also cause serious damage to the psyche of the victims, says the psychologist: "There are people for whom this can lead to serious psychological consequences. They may begin to experience fear, disturbed sleep", the psychologist added.
The heroine of our story has already walked this path. As she calls this game with people's minds. She will pay off the loan for a long time. But, she says that this seemingly harmless crime has changed her - she is now very suspicious and does not trust anyone.