Four Organisers of Phone Scam Ring Arrested

Four individuals behind a series of telephone scams have been detained in Gorna Oryahovitsa. The operation, which took several months, involved collaboration between Bulgarian and Romanian investigators. So far, indisputable evidence has been collected for seven scams, in which victims lost around €60,000.

The large-scale operation lasted ten months.

Prosecutor Daniel Iliev, head of the operation, said:
“These are people who occupy the highest levels in the hierarchy of so-called criminals involved in phone scams. Yesterday’s operation achieved results that dealt a severe blow to the phone scam mafia in Bulgaria.”

The four detainees are connected through family and friendship ties.

Zlatna Padinkova, head of the “Fights against Frauds” sector at the General Directorate of National Police:
“We are talking about individuals who directly mislead victims, as well as recruit and control those who act as ‘mules’ — couriers — in the criminal schemes.”

The perpetrators operated from Romania, where they received money and gold jewellery from victims following well-known scam methods.

Padinkova added:
“They possess exceptional verbal skills. Some can convincingly alter their voices to sound female and often pose as the victims’ daughters during conversations.”

They were so persuasive that some victims were even drawn into participating in scams themselves.

“Elderly women, after giving away their savings once, later participate in the fraud, but in relation to another person,” Padinkova said.

The scammers face up to ten years in prison and confiscation of their assets.