Minsk Woman Saved for Grandson's Wedding, Gave Money to Fraudsters
A 73-year-old woman was scammed using the "Water Utility" scheme.
Under the guise of needing to replace meters, the woman was sent several SMS messages from which she dictated codes. After this, a fake financial police officer accused the pensioner of financing a terrorist organization and threatened her with a criminal case, according to "Minsk Police".
The Minsk woman believed them and agreed to provide an "income declaration" to justify herself. For this, during a video call, she showed the fraudsters all her savings, which were kept at home, totaling over 11 thousand rubles in various currencies.
The woman put the money into an envelope and, under the fraudsters' control, hid it in the grass in a pre-arranged location.
However, the pensioner refused to go home and leave the money unattended. She wanted to wait for a National Bank courier, but the fraudsters forbade her from doing so.
The next day, the fraudsters called the woman again and demanded that she additionally declare money kept on her bank cards. It was then that she realized she had become a victim of fraud and contacted the police.