The Jelenia Góra District Prosecutor’s Office has filed an indictment with the local District Court against 41-year-old Piotr A., who is accused of operating in an organized criminal group, committing fraud using the “grandchild” method against 28 people, and attempting to commit the same crime against a further six people.
The fraudster operated throughout the country, including in Bolków and Kamienna Góra. Between 19 January and 21 May 2013, he telephoned elderly people each time, claiming to be their grandson and saying that he needed help—namely, money in amounts ranging from PLN 2,500 to PLN 25,000.
Piotr A. told the victims that he had caused a road accident and hit a pedestrian, and therefore needed the money to give a bribe to a police officer. He complained that if he did not hand it over, he would be placed in custody. On other occasions, he claimed that the person he had hit on the road was demanding the money as compensation for the harm suffered. A second man would join the telephone conversation, claiming to be a police officer.
In 28 cases, the victims believed the perpetrators and each time handed Piotr A. money totaling PLN 257,462.80. Eight people, however, verified the claims by calling members of their immediate families and thus did not give the fraudster any money.
The perpetrator acted very cautiously: whenever he sensed that the person he intended to defraud was becoming suspicious, he did not show up to collect the cash. This made him difficult to arrest. He was finally apprehended by officers of the Bolków Police Station on 21 May 2013.
On 12 April 2013, a resident of Bolków, Jadwiga J., reported to the police that she had been defrauded in the manner described above by an unknown man, losing PLN 20,000.
The woman said that she had withdrawn the money for the fraudster from a bank. She handed it over to him there as well. After examining footage from the surveillance cameras installed on the bank building, it was established that Piotr A. was the perpetrator.
A. was identified by the victim and was subsequently arrested and remanded in custody. The offenses with which he is charged carry a sentence of between six months and 10 years’ imprisonment.
During the investigation, despite numerous procedural and operational measures, the accomplices in the fraud—three men and two women who, while Piotr A. spoke to the victims by telephone pretending to be police officers, made the story presented to them seem credible—have still not been identified.
Operational activities aimed at identifying them are ongoing.
(source: Jelenia Góra District Prosecutor’s Office/ii)