Police officers from the Criminal Division of the Wrocław Provincial Police Headquarters got on the criminals’ trail. Officers:
As soon as information about an organized criminal group operating in Mazovia and committing fraud using the “CBŚP police officer” method reached officers from Warsaw’s Śródmieście district, the case was taken up by officers from the division combating property crime and the operational and reconnaissance division.
Close cooperation between the two key police units involved in the case and the District Prosecutor’s Office for Warszawa Śródmieście Północ was intended to coordinate operations so that the criminals could be effectively targeted in the shortest possible time. Every moment counted in locating and arresting them, as it was known that one of the victims was a company owner whose employee had transferred a total of PLN 1.5 million to bank account numbers provided by the fraudsters two days earlier.
The woman believed a story told by a man claiming to be an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation of the Police. He frightened her with a tale about criminals who wanted to break into the company’s account and seize the funds held there. Police: “Convinced that she was handing the cash over to a police deposit, the woman followed the fraudsters’ instructions step by step and, without the ‘boss’s’ knowledge, did everything they told her to do.”
The people involved in the scheme were arrested thanks to cooperation between officers from the Criminal Division of the Wrocław Provincial Police Headquarters and officers from Mazovia, just two days apart. The defrauded company’s money was transferred to the accounts of two of the arrested men.
The 33- and 38-year-olds were caught while withdrawing cash from ATMs. In the car used by the fraudsters, police officers found a total of more than PLN 157,000. Officers:
The money was literally everywhere: in the armrest, the passenger glove compartment, the door panels, one suspect’s pouch, and even a shoebox. Officers also arrested a 52-year-old man who coordinated the scheme, as well as the other two suspects, aged 25 and 33.
What is more, officers from Warsaw’s Śródmieście district also blocked more than PLN 500,000 in one of the accounts
Moreover, it was also established that the arrested individuals, acting jointly and in concert, had defrauded an elderly couple from Lublin, persuading the 83-year-old man to hand over all their life savings: more than PLN 140,000 in total.
At the request of the District Prosecutor’s Office for Warszawa Śródmieście Północ, all those arrested in the case have already been placed in pre-trial detention for three months. They face between one and 10 years in prison.