This week, several cases have been reported to the police where, in addition to money, people have also been defrauded of an apartment and a car. Police are asking people to be vigilant and warn their loved ones regarding such scams.
Maksim Rozgonjuk, head of the hidden crimes group of the Northern Prefecture Criminal Bureau, describes an incredible-sounding case in which a woman gave the criminals a total of 21,000 euros and almost lost her place of residence. “The day before yesterday, April 2, a 27-year-old woman received a prank call in Russian, in which the caller claimed to work at Telia. The fraudster said that if the woman does not renew the contract, she will no longer be able to use her phone number. In order to extend the contract, the woman gave the fraudster her personal code and confirmed the contract with Smart-ID codes. However, following the transaction, the woman received another phone call from a person who claimed that he works for a government agency and that he saw that the fraudsters had taken out a loan in his name. The caller claimed that immediate action was needed to prevent fraud and allegedly directed the call to the bank. The woman was instructed to take out a loan of 18,000 euros and it was claimed that this would cancel the loan taken by the criminals. Then, to repay the loan, the woman had to take the money to the parcel machine and sent a large sum of money directly to the fraudsters,” the police officer described, adding that the woman later received another call in which it was suggested that she might also participate in an undercover operation with the aim of catching unreliable employees. For this, the woman was asked to put her car up for sale. According to the caller, it is only a sham sale, i.e. the woman is supposed to get her car back later. “The woman received 3,000 euros from the sale of the car, and she also put this amount in the parcel machine. The criminals probably saw that the woman might be cheated endlessly and sent a broker to her residence who was supposed to help with the sale of the home. From that moment on, the matter seemed suspicious to the woman, and she decided to contact the police,” Rozgonjuk describes.
A 48-year-old man received a similar call allegedly from Elisa and later Smart-ID support on April 1. He gave the fraudsters a personal code to renew the mobile contract and verified it with Smart-ID codes. Later, the man took 3,000 euros to the parcel machine to catch the fraudsters. The man realized that he had been deceived and reported the incident to the police. On the same day, the police arrested a 27-year-old woman, whose connection to the crime is still being clarified.
April 2 was also an unlucky day for a 76-year-old woman who lost both her apartment and the 94,500 euros she received from its sale. The woman received a call in Russian from undercover police officers who included her in an undercover operation aimed at catching untrustworthy brokers. Unsuspecting, the woman agreed to help the alleged policemen and put her apartment up for sale under the guidance of the criminals, went to a notary to sign the transaction and gave the cash from the sale to the courier, who was also probably a fraud.
According to Rozgonjuk, the police are working around the clock to catch these criminals. “I can confirm that neither the police nor any company asks people to take their cash to parcel machines. There are also no secret operations in Estonia to detain unreliable employees. If you receive a call that tries to get personal information from you, asks you to confirm transactions with PIN codes, or tries to involve you in an undercover operation, hang up immediately! Of course, you should not go along with the proposed idea, where someone asks you to “ostensibly” sell your property. Otherwise, you will lose both your money and property,” says Rozgonjuk and asks all people to inform their loved ones regarding these schemes as well.
2024-04-04 06:26:57
#police #warns #addition #money #cheat #people #apartments #cars
