Phone Fraud: Two Accused of Scamming 55,000 BGN from a Senior

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Stara Zagora charged two men in connection with a telephone fraud scheme involving claims of “assistance to the police”, the press office of the District Prosecutor's Office said on October 30.

The men are accused of deceiving an 84-year-old man in the town of Galabovo on 26 October, acting in concert with unidentified accomplices, and causing financial losses totalling 55,000 BGN.

According to investigators, the victim received two telephone calls from an unknown man. In the first call, the caller claimed the victim’s daughter had been injured in a car accident. In the second, he stated that the victim needed to assist police in catching telephone fraudsters, and requested money for the operation, promising it would be returned once the suspects were “caught”.

One of the defendants later visited the elderly man at his home, where he collected 55,000 BGN in cash. The money was then taken to Bucharest and left at a designated location under a bench.

One defendant has been released on bail set at 3,000 BGN. The second has been detained for up to 72 hours by order of the supervising prosecutor. Today, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Stara Zagora submitted a request to the court seeking to remand him in custody, the press office statement added.