Bulgaria: Financial fraud with victims in Greece as well
Thirty people from Greece are among the victims of international fraud with a total booty of 10 euros, which was set up by two call centers in Bulgaria. The perpetrators extorted money from citizens promising investments with supposedly quick and easy returns. On January 26, Bulgarian authorities, in co-operation with Europol, raided 24 locations in Sofia and Burgas, questioned 66 witnesses, confiscated electronic equipment and finally made an arrest.
The tangle of fraud began to unfold after complaints from Greek and German citizens who had what they had invested. In total, the amount of money extracted by the fraud network reaches ten million euros. According to Europol, the illegal activity took place from two call centers in Bulgaria. The members of the network, pretending to be financial advisers, called on unsuspecting citizens to promote investment packages. The answering machines spoke Greek, German, English and Spanish. They easily and big profits were transferred to their victims and many believed them by depositing the relevant amounts. Also, in order to deceive their victims, they had websites that had created the image of a business law.
The Greeks reported the fraud to the Cybercrime Prosecution of the Police, which cooperated with the Bulgarian authorities by providing critical information for the development of the network. On January 23, in a report by “K”, victims of similar cases had spoken
circuits. “When you realize that you have been deceived and the threats are brought to justice, they object that the money was lost because the investment did not pay off,” said one of the deceived who had lost a total of about 8,000 euros.
The way these networks work is in most cases: an answering machine dials random numbers and higher profits are calculated with very little initial capital to anyone who wants to invest in financial products. The Follower refers the victim to another person, who impersonates the specialized investment advisor. He urges his interlocutor to register on a specific investment platform and after gaining his trust he proposes to install himself on the computer of the remote access software and to register on the fake investment platform.
Then, by employing various persuasion techniques, the perpetrators manage to regularly extract small or large sums from their victim. Once they are asked to withdraw their supposed profits, they object that they have to pay a hefty tax to collect it. The investor under the pressure of the circuit can borrow money in an attempt to comply with these regulations. But he will never get his money’s worth.
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