Two young people aged 21 and 23 from Chisinau municipality were detained in the “relative involved in the accident” scam. The victim, an 81-year-old man from Ialoveni, transmitted a sum of tens of thousands of lei to the two suspects, IPN reports.

The General Police Inspectorate said that the old man was called to the landline twice by a woman. She first introduced herself as the man’s daughter and, crying, told him she had been involved in a car accident.

After understanding that the man really had a daughter, she later called again the man and, posing as an employee of law enforcement agencies, requested 180,000 lei for paying damages to the injured party, and the daughter would be released.

After the old man realized that he was deceived, he notified the Ialoveni Police Inspectorate. Law enforcement officers found the money asked from the old man at suspects’ homes. The two were subsequently detained for 72 hours.

The police urge the citizens to be cautious. “The criminals target mostly the elderly. We urge the people to talk to their elderly parents or relatives about this kind of scam and, in order not to become a victim of criminals, to immediately notify the police on the single emergency number 112,” said the General Police Inspectorate.