The Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) announces on Monday, November 14, that it obtained in court the sentencing of two prisoners to 10 and 8 years in prison respectively and the recovery of the damage of more than 400,000 lei suffered by a woman, from whom one of the prisoners received the money as an alleged loan.

According to the PCCOCS indictment, which was drawn up on the basis of evidence gathered jointly with officers of the National Investigation Inspectorate (INI), the acts under investigation constitute fraud.

“The crime was committed through breach of trust and by misleading the woman who also denounced them upon her return to Moldova from her job in Israel. The lawmen found that the crime was committed through the illegal use of a social networking site in the prison, where the first of the two defendants made the acquaintance of the woman then abroad. In the profile, he gave a false name as well as a false picture of a sporty and handsome man living in Italy. After further discussion, he told her that he had grown up without parents and that the data indicated in his profile were from the time when he had created his account on that social network, when he was in that country; later, he had become a businessman in Moldova.

Their virtual relationship lasted about a year. After the first week of communication, he insisted on communicating over the phone, but also on other internet-connected platforms, but without the use of video calls. The purpose of avoiding video calls was to successfully implement her deception scheme – disguising the real identity of the convict. Subsequently, the woman was contacted by the second convict, who pretended to be the boyfriend of her “boyfriend”, who had been hospitalised following an accident and needed a loan for surgery. The victim, therefore, initially transferred $4000 in two instalments, then further requested amounts followed – a total of 12 transfers over a year. The money was transferred to another person at large, as the accomplice allegedly claimed that he had lost his identity papers and could not receive the transfer himself. Ultimately, the money was appropriated by the two. And to the persons who initially received the money transfers requested from the victim, the main defendant informed them that the money came from his relatives abroad,” a statement from the prosecution said.

The same defendant who had previously falsely communicated that he was hospitalized claimed that he also needed other loans for his lawyer as well as for the damages he was going to pay to the victims of the “accident.”

“He justified the need for the transfers to other persons by the fact that he had to leave his identity card as a pledge as a result of that alleged accident and the obligation to financially cover the damages caused to the injured parties. Finally, the last instalments of money, again, the “friend” of the main defendant would have demanded them from the woman after the latter had been “arrested” at the Chisinau airport, when returning from another medical treatment in Podolsk, Russia. After about a year, the woman returned to Moldova from Israel, but the “boyfriend” repeatedly postponed the meeting day. Subsequently, the victim realised the criminal aspect of the relationship and reported it to the police, who started investigations under the direction of the PCCOCS prosecutor. Now, in addition to the obligation to return the more than 400,000 lei to the victim, the court has partially satisfied the state prosecutor’s request, who also asked for the sum of 100,000 lei to be recovered from the two men as moral damages caused to the woman. In the meantime, the court’s decision is subject to appeal, during which time the two are entitled to the presumption of innocence in this case, according to the law,” the statement added.

According to PCCOCS, the scheme was implemented by two cellmates from Penitentiary No. 1 – Taraclia, originally from Stefan Voda and Cantemir, aged 30 and 32. There, the first of the defendants was serving his sentence at the request of the PCCOCS prosecutor for another similar scam, as well as for intentional murder and robbery; and the second was serving his sentence for causing serious injury to a person, which resulted in his death. Now, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, following the sentence of the Chisinau Court, the second defendant is to be detained and placed in custody to serve his sentence.

Prosecutors urge citizens to pay close attention to transactions with persons unknown or of low credibility, who appeal to emotions, allegedly serious situations in life and ask for money or other goods in various forms, including the promise of their return.