Phone ‘scammers’ who targeted elderly arrested

FOUR people have been arrested and appeared in court accused of trying to con a 70-year-old woman out of her life savings.

The four suspects, referred to by the initials “SA, ST, AA and SEA”, were arrested in Girne earlier this month.

They were accused of posing as “chief inspectors” or “prosecutors” and telling the people they called that their money in the bank was being used by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation (Fetö) and that they should withdraw their money “immediately” and hand it over to the state for “safekeeping”.

Police in the TRNC had issued repeated warnings to the public about such scams last year. Arrests were finally made after the 70year-old woman, who had withdrawn $50,000 from her account, became suspicious at the last minute.

Police officer Serhan Özcü, testifying before Girne District Court, said that on December 24, 2021, a male called the woman on her home phone via a Turkish phone number and introduced himself as a “prosecutor”.

The caller told the woman that her money was being used by Fetö. Officer Özcü said that she became “afraid” and went to the bank and took $50,000 from her account.

The woman then went to the address indicated by the caller, the court was told, to “deliver the money to someone who was waiting for her” but at the “last minute she realised that she was about to be defrauded”.

Officer Özcü said that the woman did not hand over the money and reported the incident to police.

As part of an “extensive investigation” carried out based on her statement, the four suspects were “identified and arrested” on January 16. They appeared before court on January 17 and were remanded in custody for an initial period of three days. At a second hearing on January 20 their detention was extended by another seven days, with Officer Özcü saying it is believed the suspects had “defrauded” other people.