The police started looking into the case in October when they were contacted by the Financial Analysis Bureau, which registered suspicious transactions. Detectives subsequently analyzed bank and non-bank accounts and the cage fell in April.
The police detained 10 students from Prague who, according to them, legalized money originating from fraudulent criminal activity. The police officers counted 12 victims. However, it is not clear whether it was the students who communicated with the women.
“Finances were lured from the victims under fictitious legends from gullible women. The scammers thought they were having a conversation with a real surgeon on the UN mission in Yemen, to whom they sent their savings in good faith with the prospect of a subsequent meeting,” informed police spokesman Jan Rybanský.
A woman from Zlín thought she was competing with a friend for dinner. She barely had one left in her account
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Part of the money in the amount of almost one and a half million went to the accounts of these students, who further sent the funds outside the republic, and used part for their own needs.
“After luring the funds from the injured women, the described group of students received them directly into their bank accounts and by their activities tried to conceal their origin and sought to make it substantially more difficult or impossible to ascertain their origin,” stated the spokesperson.
The students were accused of legalizing the proceeds of crime and face up to 12 years in prison. The men were taken into custody.
Fraudsters ripped off pensioners, played on relatives
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