A 96-year-old woman in Plovdiv threw 13,000 BGN in cash from her balcony after falling victim to phone scam

Another victim of phone scammers in Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv. The police have detained two men – a father and son – who deceived an elderly woman into giving them 13,000 BGN.

The victim is a 96-year-old woman who lived in an apartment in Plovdiv. On March 3rd, an unknown man called her land line phone and informed her that her daughter, while driving a car in Sofia, had hit a child on a pedestrian crossing, and the child had died.

He explained that 50,000 BGN were needed for a blood money payment to the family, in order to avoid a lawsuit. He also asked if the elderly woman had a bank card or jewelry, to which she responded negatively but said she had 13,000 BGN available to help her daughter.

Shortly after, the 96-year-old woman placed the sum of money in a wallet and threw it over the balcony of the apartment block where she lived. The two men were waiting outside. They took the money and fled.

A police report was later filed. After conducting operational search measures, the two men were found by police officers yesterday in Burgas.

The accused have been detained for up to 72 hours under a decision by the supervising prosecutor. Investigatiion is ongoing.