The police in Chisinau arrested six people aged between 15 and 25, including a woman, who are suspected of implementing scam known as "the relative involved in the accident". The persons are being investigated for defrauding elderly people in Chisinau of hundreds of thousands of lei, IPN reports.
According to the investigation, the suspects were involved in at least five cases of fraud in Centru district of Chisinau since the beginning of this year. The victims, aged between 72 and 87, were persuaded to offer them money, being lied to that a close relative of theirs was involved in a road accident and urgently needed financial assistance. In total, the suspects managed to obtain 311,000 lei.
Following the intervention of the police, it was possible to recover 56,000 lei after one of the victims called the 112 Service, and one of the suspects was caught red-handed.
Two of the defendants were placed in preventive detention for 30 days, and the others are being investigated out of custody.
Under the legislation, people involved in such crimes face jail terms of 2 to 6 years.
This is not the first arrest in scams of this type. Recently, three young people aged between 19 and 21 were placed in pre-trial detention, accused of deceiving four elderly women in Chisinau by the same method. The suspects defrauded the victims of about 300,000 lei.
The police report an alarming increase in this type of crime, with scammers targeting the elderly in particular. The most commonly used method involves phone calls informing victims that a family member was involved in an accident and that money was urgently needed either for covering medical costs or for avoid legal consequences.
The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations launched an information campaign aimed at combating this scam. Prevention messages are disseminated in public places, such as shopping malls, public transport, markets and stations. Also, the citizens are sent warning text messages on their mobile phones. The goal of the campaign is to educate the population and reduce the number of victims of this type of fraud.
The police recommend the citizens to be vigilant and not to offer money to strangers. In case of suspicious calls, in which they are notified that a family member was involved in an accident, it is recommended to check the information and immediately call the 112 Service.
