Brazen phone scammers terrorise elderly
Sly fraudsters dial random numbers in the hope that an elderly person will answer
From impersonating police to threatening to hurt loved ones, brazen Bulgarian gangs terrorise the elderly and rob them of their life savings with increasingly aggressive phone scams netting millions of euros.
“They did not only take my money but also my health … I keep shaking all day long,” Gergina Alexieva, a retired teacher in the western town of Kyustendil, said. The 82-year-old recently fell victim to one of the most popular schemes, which involves tricking people into believing they are assisting police with catching a gang of scammers.
In a phone conversation, a man posing as a cop warned Alexieva that she was about to be contacted by criminals who would try to blackmail her into handing over her money.
He instructed her to follow their orders, saying that officers were waiting outside the house to catch the thieves in the act.
“I did as I was told ... I was very scared,” said Alexieva, who lost her entire life savings of 5,800 leva (Dh11,657; €3,000).
Old people are easy prey in the European Union’s poorest member state: many live alone because their children and grandchildren have moved abroad in search of better opportunities.
The isolation, coupled with the bitter memories from a series of banking crises, has prompted senior citizens to hide large amounts of cash in their homes.
Well aware of this, sly fraudsters work their way through the phone book and dial random numbers in the hope that an elderly person will answer. And often they get lucky. Around 900,000 people in the 7.4-million-strong nation have been the target of phone fraud, particularly those aged over 60, according to a new survey by Bulgaria’s Trend Institute.
In response, the government has launched a major awareness campaign, with state TV broadcasting ads about the most popular hoaxes and how to avoid falling prey to them. Nonetheless, authorities are having a tough time hunting down those responsible. Just one in 10 suspects is identified, official data shows.