Officers from the Economic Crime Division of the Wrocław Municipal Police Headquarters have dismantled a criminal group involved in so-called police officer scams. According to the officers’ findings, the gang stole more than PLN 1.2 million.
A total of 12 people have been arrested in the case. The suspects are residents of the Masovian Voivodeship.
The last of those arrested was caught by Wrocław police officers on 5 March 2018. He is a 31-year-old resident of Siedlce County. After being charged with participating in an organized criminal group that defrauded at least 20 elderly people throughout Poland, the man was remanded in custody for three months by court order.
Each person arrested had a different role in the group. One made calls and deceived the victims. Another opened purported prosecutor’s accounts at banks, to which the victims were supposed to transfer funds, while another withdrew the money and handed it over to the other members of the group.
While investigating the case, Wrocław police placed particular emphasis on recovering the defrauded funds. As a result of their actions, officers have already recovered more than PLN 200,000 and seized, among other things, gold jewelry whose value is initially estimated at several tens of thousands of złotys.
Officers from the capital of Lower Silesia began investigating the group after a Wrocław resident lost her savings in this type of crime. The elderly woman believed that she was helping CBŚP officers with an operation they were conducting and transferred the funds to a quasi-prosecutor’s account. It was only after speaking with a neighbor that she realized she had fallen victim to fraud.
Those arrested face up to 10 years in prison.