Another woman fell victim to a ruthless fraudster. “Last Friday, officers from the Legnica Municipal Police Headquarters received a report of a so-called American soldier scam,” says junior asp. Jagoda Ekiert, press officer of the Municipal Police Headquarters. “The officers’ findings showed that a resident of Legnica County had been corresponding for some time with a man who claimed to be an American soldier stationed on a mission in Afghanistan.”

For several weeks, the pair exchanged various messages. The “American soldier” sent the woman photos of himself; he said that he was a widower and had a son who lived in Texas. He took an interest in the personal life of the 48-year-old woman, which enabled him to gain her considerable trust.

One day, he sent her a message saying that he was going on a military operation to Syria, where conditions were difficult. He claimed that he could buy food because he did not have access to his account. When the woman from Legnica wrote that she had no money, he pressured her and appealed to her pity, writing that if she did not transfer some funds to him, he would remain in the Middle East forever and his son would be left without a father. He assured his victim that he had a lot of money in his account and would repay her as soon as he returned from Syria.

From time to time, the woman transferred money to her “friend.” Over several weeks, she managed to transfer a total of PLN 173,000 to the fraudster.

But that was not the end. Junior asp. J. Ekiert:

A few days ago, the woman transferred another PLN 81,000. She then received a message from the man’s supposed bank saying that he wanted to transfer all the funds from his account to her—USD 5.311 million—but she had to pay another USD 300,000 to unblock a transaction blocked by the FBI. The woman from Legnica received no funds. She informed her online “friend” that she was going to the police.

The spokeswoman adds:

When officers from the Economic Crime Division of the Legnica Municipal Police Headquarters learned about the incident, they immediately went to the bank, where, together with bank employees, they managed to block the transfer of PLN 81,000. The victim’s total losses amounted to PLN 173,000.

Fraud is punishable by imprisonment for between six months and as many as eight years.