The VP said a submission had been received by police on January 13 from a woman who had been defrauded by a man pretending to be a bank security chief and claiming someone had committed fraudulent acts on her account. A moment later another person called the woman, pretending to be police chief Armands Ruks.
The woman, believing the fraudsters, provided all the required information, as well as installed the AnyDesk software through which the criminals had logged onto her phone and bank account.
Arguing that it was possible to prevent the alleged crime, the fraudsters asked the woman to meet the money mule in person and hand over cash, which the woman did. A total of €25,000 was defrauded.
Criminal proceedings for Fraud having been initiated by the VP. As part of their Investigative Actions, officers detained a so-called courier, or “money mule,” linked to the scam on January 15. The detainee is a Polish national. During the search, police found a plethora of Bank cards owned by third parties. Seven owners of these bank cards have already approached the police as victims of fraud.
The State Police repeat that neither police, banks, nor other institutions will call to find out bank account details, nor will they demand different software to be installed on computers and mobile devices to connect remotely to a computer.
