Boom of telephone scams in the last week in Dobrichko. In just a few days, there have been 4 cases. The law enforcement authorities are urging people to talk more with their elderly loved ones, who are the main target of abuse. Usually only “mules” are caught because the guarantors operate from abroad. Fraudsters retain the basic fraud schemes, but become increasingly arrogant and aggressive.
In just a few days in Dobrichko, 4 attempts at telephone fraud were thwarted, and in one of the cases, an 80-year-old woman gave BGN 15,600 to a stranger. “At the end of the week we had a shocking signal in Balchik. An unknown man calls the landline of an 80-year-old woman in the seaside town, stating that her son has been arrested and it is necessary to collect clothes and a sum of money to provide, said Stoyan Stoyanov, spokesman for the ODMVR-Dobrich.
In a panic, the woman collects what she ordered and puts it in a bag, which she hands to a stranger at the entrance to her apartment. “Colleagues were able to identify the so-called “mule”. We were able to establish the amount of money as well as the clothes. The same were confiscated in the proper order and accordingly handed over to the injured woman, Stoyanov points out.
The money carrier turns out to be a taxi driver who was caught at the Durankulak border crossing. “It is difficult to get to the actual perpetrators, as the “mules” in all cases, they export the money abroad, and more specifically to the territory of Romania," states prosecutor Dr. Daniel Iliev, spokesman for the Dobrich District Prosecutor's Office.
„Hello” the fraudsters are Bulgarian citizens who reside briefly in our northern neighbor while carrying out the attacks. In order to capture them, however, the cooperation of the Romanian authorities is necessary. However, fraud cannot always be prevented. The latest attempts are according to the scheme: a debt collector wants to be paid overdue bills for electricity or water, or to fix an accident. It already includes fictitious collection companies. The most vulnerable group remains the elderly and people living alone.
The police and the prosecutor's office regularly hold meetings with pensioners in small settlements to explain the fraudulent schemes, but they do not stop. That is why it is necessary for the younger ones to talk to their parents, the specialists are categorical.