How a 17-year-old teenager managed to steal 67,000 lei from a store in Bistrița-Năsăud by phone
A 17-year-old teenager from Galati is being investigated by the police after he managed to embezzle 67,000 lei from a store in Bistrița-Năsăud county, using a remote telephone fraud scheme.
SelfPay machine phone scam PHOTO Shutterstock
The scam happened remotely. According to the investigators, the teenager contacted the employees of the store by phone, presenting himself as a representative of the company that deals with the maintenance of payment stations. Under the pretext of an urgent technical check, he would have convinced them to follow the steps indicated by him.
The women entered, one by one, 32 six-digit codes dictated over the phone, and then validated financial transactions that they thought were part of a normal procedure. In reality, these “tests” they allowed the actual withdrawal of money from the machine.
“From the research carried out, it emerged that during the mentioned period, two employees of the company in question were contacted by phone by a person, in order to carry out an update/revision of the self-pay device owned by the company at the work point in Anieş. After the administrator approved the activity, the employees were allegedly misled into entering 32 6-digit codes into the device, dictated by phone, and later to authorize the mentioned payments on the device after entering the codes”, sent IPJ Bistrita Năsăud.
The notification was made by the administrator of the commercial company, after noticing the lack of an important amount from the receipts. The police from Bistrita-Năsăud opened a criminal case, and the investigations led to the identification of the suspect in Galați county.
Based on the collected evidence, on January 18, the implementation of two home search warrants, both in Galati County, and an arrest warrant, issued in the name of the 17-year-old suspected of committing the act, was authorized.
After the hearings, he was detained for 24 hours, being investigated for fraud and fraudulent financial operations.
The police have sent an alarm signal regarding this new method of deception.
“If you manage such devices/stations, the police advise you not to respond to phone requests and not to enter generated codes, especially dictated by phone, not to authorize transactions on the recommendation of unknown persons! For revisions or updates, even malfunctions of the devices, it is advisable to get in touch with known people, who can physically check them at the workplace. At the same time, if you are contacted by people who raise suspicions, check thorough, notify the Police immediately”, stated IPJ Bistrita-Năsăud.
