The ingenuity of criminals in devising new and new ways of operating, to easily obtain undue benefits, seems to have no limits, with more and more cases of “original” scams appearing every day
Sometimes credulity is paid very dearly PHOTO The Truth Archive
Indeed, their “work” is sometimes made easier by the gullibility shown by even the victims, who fall into the trap, and when they realize that they have been deceived, it is too late. Many times, the perpetrators are caught, tried and convicted, but the recovery of the damage is difficult to do, so they have only “to whistle the damage”.
Recently, the police in Neamţ discovered a new “invention”, namely the creation of fake internet pages in the name of non-existent nuns, who offered spiritual services. And the people who paid were naive, the damage being estimated at 250,000 lei. On April 2, 2024, ten searches took place in Vrancea, Galati and Vâlcea, three people being arrested at the Târgu Neamţ Court.
The humble “mom” or the “church aid package”
“From October 2023 until now, nine people, aged between 18 and 75, would have created several internet pages through which, under the pretext of being mothers, they would have offered ritual services, misleading several people from the country and abroad, obtaining significant sums of money”reported the Romanian Police.
Another new method is the “Church Aid Package”. In January 2024, an old man opened the door to a stranger, who told him he was coming from the church, giving him a package with three pajamas and a robe. At one point, taking advantage of the victim's inattention, the “good Samaritan” stole the sum of 4,500 lei.
In another case from Neamţ, a client of a bank was defrauded of over 91,000 euros by a clerk, who managed to trick the institution's IT system. During the investigations, the defendant also detailed how she acted. He had to be a customer at the counter to be able to enter the computer system without raising suspicion.
When she wanted to take money from the account of the “selected”, the accused also performed the operation requested by the customer who was in front of her. The fault of the defrauded person was that he did not use SMS-type information services, which announce the banking operations carried out in the account. From the damage of 91,553 euros, a small amount was recovered.
Garbage business
A spectacular case was discovered in September 2023 by the German police, two people were arrested for “dealing” with garbage. Investigations were carried out for fraud, forgery in documents under private signature, use of forgery and computer forgery. Damaged with 6.4 million euros was the Environmental Fund Administration, which was misled regarding the annual recycling objectives.
“A company would have misled several operators (…), by reporting as being recycled on their behalf, some quantities of packaging waste using several documents attesting the purchase of waste from natural and legal persons, with the aim collecting the consideration for non-provided collection and recycling services”it is stated in a press release from the Neamţ Prosecutor's Office.
