Panagyurishte police arrest man for involvement in 3,500 euro phone scam

Police in Panagyurishte have detained a 52-year-old man acting as a middleman in a telephone scam targeting a 75-year-old woman from the village of Banya.

The victim reported that she received two calls. The first caller claimed her daughter required an expensive medical operation. A second caller, posing as a police officer, claimed the woman was being targeted by scammers and that she needed to hand over her money to serve as bait for an investigation. The scammers even played police siren sounds over the phone to increase credibility.

Under these pretenses, the woman handed over 3,500 euros to a man she did not know. The victim realized she had been defrauded the following day. The suspect has been detained for 24 hours, and the case is being investigated under the supervision of the Pazardzhik Prosecutor's Office.