Officers from the Economic Crime Department of the Legnica City Police Headquarters, together with uniformed officers from the Cybercrime Department of the Lower Silesian Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, identified and arrested another person who committed fraud by posing as a police officer during operational activities. At the prosecutor’s request, the court ordered the three-month pre-trial detention of a 34-year-old man from Łódź.
Let us recall. The 34-year-old resident of Łódź opened a bank account using his personal details, and transfers from the victim’s account were paid into it. In March, a 67-year-old woman reported to the Legnica City Police Headquarters that she had fallen victim to fraud. She said that a man had called her telephone number, introduced himself as an officer of the Central Police Investigation Bureau, and told her that a group of hackers intended to steal money from her bank account and that her account was already being monitored by police officers.
During the conversation, the victim also gave the fictitious officer her mobile phone number. The fraudster occupied both lines. He instructed the 67-year-old woman to dial the police emergency number without hanging up and thereby confirm the credibility of the operation being conducted. The woman followed the instructions. Convinced that she had connected with the police, she was assured that the operation was genuine.
The following day, the fictitious police officer contacted the senior woman again and instructed her to open a bank account using her personal details. Following the criminal’s instructions, the woman provided the telephone number and email address given by the perpetrator. She then transferred her savings—150,000 PLN—from her bank account to the newly opened account. After several hours, while speaking with a bank employee, the victim realized that she had fallen victim to fraud.
The fraudster turned out to be a 34-year-old man from Łódź. Some of the senior woman’s money went to him, while the remainder went to a 36-year-old man from Warsaw who had already been arrested in May.
The resident of Łódź faces up to eight years in prison.
The case is developing, and further arrests cannot be ruled out.