A man arrested for phone scams admits his guilt – he will return the money

44-year-old Atanas Atanasov from Gorna Oryahovitsa has been arrested in Dobrich for telephone fraud. He led a criminal scheme together with his 38-year-old accomplice, Dimitar Atanasov, who was arrested less than a month ago in Romania. Two of their associates have also been charged. According to the prosecutor's office, they defrauded seven people of approximately 100,000 BGN.

Today, November 28, the District Court in Dobrich imposed a "detention in custody" measure on Atanas. Investigators traced him after the arrest of Dimitar, who was wanted for the largest fraud case, involving 60,000 BGN, which he took from a woman from the Dobrich region.

Daniel Iliev, supervising prosecutor from the District Prosecutor's Office in Dobrich: "As of today, we have gathered evidence linking these individuals to phone frauds committed in the city of Burgas – two cases, and phone frauds committed in the city of Varna – four cases."

For the first case alone, the sentence is up to six years of imprisonment.

Zlatka Padinkova, head of the "Fraud" department at the General Directorate of National Police: "He has been involved in telephone fraud for over 20 years, acting as the organizer of the criminal scheme. On the one hand, he is responsible for recruiting and managing the 'mules' (those who collect the money), and on the other, he also takes part in the fraudulent activities."

In court today, Atanasov's lawyer requested house arrest, but it was denied due to the risk of the defendant fleeing.

Georgi Tenev, lawyer: "He admits his guilt, and we will repay the amount. We will not appeal the detention order." Lawyer Tenev also stated that his client voluntarily turned himself in to the police, and the process of returning the money to the victims has already begun.

Phone scams on the rise, scammers turn to threats to con victims

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