Regardless of the broad information campaign in the country regarding telephone scams, they have not stopped, on the contrary – fraudsters are becoming more and more inventive, both in the scenarios and in the organization of the execution of the crimes. In the month of February in the village of Pchelarovo, an elderly woman was tricked over the phone and handed over BGN 60,000. Seven months later, after numerous joint actions by the authorities in Bulgaria and Romania, the actual perpetrator of the fraud was arrested, BNR reports.
His capture comes after months of a joint investigation by several Regional Directorates of the Ministry of the Interior. The 38-year-old man was detained 13 km from Bucharest. In addition to him, the police also caught two of his helpers, said the supervising prosecutor from the District Prosecutor's Office in Dobrich, Daniel Iliev.
"The perpetrator of this act, for which evidence was collected, was detained in Bucharest, Romania. By decision of the Appellate Court in Bucharest, his handover to the Bulgarian authorities was allowed. At the moment, he is in the investigative custody of the city of Dobrich. He was charged under Art. 209, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, which is punishable by imprisonment for six years. In addition to the actual perpetrator of this telephone fraud, his accomplice, who is from Ruse, was also involved. There is also another accomplice who is from Vratsa.
For the profile of the detainee, who is from Gorna Oryahovitsa and has been known to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for years, the head of the "Frauds" sector to DG "National Police" Zlatka Padinkova noted that he is a complex fraudster.
"He is involved both in misleading potential victims and in recruiting and controlling those who participate in the crimes. He was brought up and grew up in an environment of phone scammers.
It is very common for phone scammers to ask for a refund when they are caught. They believe that in this way they can enjoy mitigating opportunities".
From the beginning of the year until now, 58 persons have been detained, complicit in 100 telephone frauds. Among them are both actual perpetrators and different categories of mules, added Zlatka Padinkova.
According to her, the phone fraudsters are becoming more and more cautious and often change their places of residence in Romania, they use hostels, guest houses, apartments, and private cars are not used to move the mules. The communicators used are also constantly changing.
"Telephone scammers are very "caring" to the persons who assist them in their criminal activity".
Since the beginning of the year, more than 540 telephone fraud attempts have been registered in the Dobrich region. A novelty in the strategy is calling not only home phones, but now also mobile phones. Fortunately, the success rate is very low, added Zlatka Padinkova.
"Complete crimes for the country for the nine months are 217. The success rate is below 1%.
It is important for people to remember that if they receive a phone call from an unknown number and someone asking for a sum of money under different pretexts, it is a phone scam.