„Hello” fraudsters tried to steal 17,800 leva from a 90-year-old man in Sofia. The case was reported on August 13 in the 7th district. It all started a few days ago when the elderly man received a call. The fraudsters claimed to be police officers and he should help them. The deceived man told the Nova TV team that he first received a call from a "policeman" who introduced himself as Commissioner Georgiev.
"He told me that my number was on a list and that a call was coming in which they would ask me for money", said the elderly man.
After the end of the conversation, another call followed, but this time from a woman.
"The woman in question told me that I needed to collect 4 thousand leva as quickly as possible because my cousin was about to have an operation", added the man.
The elderly man also said that after some time he received another call telling him that he was being followed, knew where he lived, had a key to his apartment and that he would be killed.
"Did you collect the money – "... by collecting them in a bag and throwing them over the terrace", adds the deceived person.
Within a few hours, the so-called "mule" was detained by the police, announced Inspector Stefan Popov, head of the department at the Internal Affairs Directorate.
This is a 60-year-old man. Part of the money was found during his detention, the rest - in his apartment. The man is a criminal, unconvicted, explained Inspector Popov.
The scheme is the usual one - assistance from the police to catch telephone scammers.
Initially, the elderly man did not suspect anything. After handing over the money, he contacted his relatives and realized that he was a victim of fraud, explained Inspector Popov.
The materials have been reported to the prosecutor's office.
“By my decree, the detained person has been brought in as a defendant”, said Valentin Dobrev, supervising prosecutor. He ordered detention for up to 72 hours. And since Sunday, the detained person has been under a permanent measure ordered by the court.
The case continues. It is assumed that the actual perpetrators are in Romania.
The elderly man's money was returned today.
The police announced that another fraud with the so-called “credits” is gaining momentum. In this case, the perpetrators pose as police officers and, under the pretext that someone is trying to withdraw money from the bank with a fake power of attorney, they trick people into withdrawing large amounts of money and handing them over.