Vitebsk resident paid Moscow scammer Br9 million for a "free" Audi A6

July 19, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. A Vitebsk resident paid a Moscow scammer Br9 million for a "free" Audi A6, Vladimir Shalukhin, prosecutor of the Oktyabrsky district of Vitebsk, told a BELTA correspondent.

In May of this year, a 28-year-old young woman received a message on her mobile phone about winning a promotional campaign by "Welcom-Telecom". She was promised a brand new Audi A6 as a prize. The woman called the contact number, where her win was confirmed, and she was offered to familiarize herself with the terms of the campaign on the official website of Welcom-Telecom.infa on the Internet. The information obtained online convinced the Vitebsk resident of the reality of her unexpected luck. Not believing her happiness, she contacted a certain Zhenya, indicated as the contact person, and asked how to claim the prize. "Nothing complicated," assured her a friendly man on the other end of the line, adding that she only needed to pay 1% of the car's value for paperwork, and the company would handle the rest of the delivery issues.

Having gathered all her savings, the Vitebsk resident transferred Br2.2 million to a private individual in Moscow. After some time, a company representative called back, informed her that the money had been received and the car was being prepared for shipment, but asked if she would like to receive her prize in cash. The woman agreed. For this, she was asked for another 1.5% of the car's value as an additional payment for bank transfer. Having borrowed from friends and acquaintances, the winner of the super-mega promotion scraped together the required amount, but in foreign currency. However, "Zhenya" showed understanding, agreeing to accept both dollars and euros. Then followed new sudden delays, promises, and modest requests for money payments due to further force majeure circumstances. The story ended trivially: the disappearance of the website from the Internet and broken contact with the nice "Zhenya".

It took the woman several months and a total of Br9 million to realize she had been a victim of fraudsters. Currently, based on her statement, the internal affairs department of the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Vitebsk is conducting a check, and the issue of initiating a criminal case under Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Belarus ("Theft by using computer technology") is being decided.

It is noteworthy that on July 18, the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs received another similar statement from a 51-year-old resident of the regional center. For the dream of a car, another "winner" of the same promotion paid 59 thousand Russian rubles, added Vladimir Shalukhin.-0-