Fraudsters Impersonating Police Deceived Residents Out of Their Apartments 0 8

In the second half of this year, the police received information about a number of cases in different cities in Latvia where, as a result of fraudulent actions, people lost their real estate.

It all started with a call supposedly from a police officer, who turned out to be a fraudster. The caller claimed that someone was currently trying to sell the apartment of a specific person.

Then the victim was convinced to participate in a so-called "operation" to help apprehend the criminal. Believing this story, the person agreed to sell the apartment as part of a fictional special operation.

Next, the fraudsters filled out a form on a real estate agency's website in the name of the owner, indicating that they wanted to sell the apartment. After that, a real realtor would call the owner, and following the fraudsters' instructions, the person would carry out all actions, believing the deal was fictitious, although in reality, the sale was happening for real.

As a result, the apartment was indeed sold, and the proceeds were handed over to a courier sent by the fraudsters.

Ultimately, the person was left without housing and without money from the sale.

Throughout the scheme, the fraudsters emphasized that what was happening was a secret operation that could not be disclosed to anyone.

As the police emphasize, this is what leads victims not to report the incidents to law enforcement and not to receive timely warnings.

Criminal proceedings have been initiated in all cases, and an investigation is underway. The police indicate that investigative actions are often complicated by the fact that the fraudsters convince the victims so thoroughly that they initially refuse to cooperate with the real police, believing that the scammers were actual representatives of the authorities, and the police were the fakes.

Oleg Filatov, head of the 2nd department of the Cybercrime Combat Division, reminds: if you receive a call from someone claiming to be a police officer or a bank employee offering to participate in a secret operation, you should immediately terminate the conversation and in no case agree to the proposals. Neither the police, nor mobile operators, nor bank employees make such offers over the phone, he emphasizes.

Such cases of fraud should definitely be reported to the police by calling 112 or by submitting a statement through the portal latvija.gov.lv.

According to information collected by the State Police, in the ten months of this year, residents of Latvia lost 17,993,262 euros due to the actions of fraudsters. Last year, for the same period, the losses amounted to about 14,039,486 euros.