Phone scammers strike again as elderly woman loses €3,000

An 89-year-old woman in Nicosia became the latest victim of a telephone scam on Wednesday afternoon, losing €3,000 to fraudsters. The case has been reported to the police and is currently under investigation by the Nicosia Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

According to the police report, the elderly woman received a call between 5 pm and 7 pm on her home landline from an unknown man who identified himself as an orthopedic doctor. The caller claimed that her daughter had suffered a leg injury in an accident and urgently needed €80,000 for surgery. The elderly woman explained that she only had €3,000, and the caller requested her home address to collect the money.

During the call, the fraudster asked the victim for her mobile phone number. Subsequently, he called her from an unidentified international number on her mobile phone and instructed her not to disconnect the call on her landline.

Around 7 pm, while the phone conversation with the unknown man was ongoing, an unidentified woman visited the elderly woman's residence and collected the €3,000. She was accompanied by an unknown man who drove them to the victim's house.

After the woman left the premises, the elderly woman's phone conversation with the unknown man abruptly ended. She then contacted her daughter, only to realize that she had fallen victim to a scam.

In response to this incident, the police issued a warning to the public, urging them to exercise caution. They emphasized that such phone calls and claims are fraudulent and aimed at deceiving individuals into parting with significant sums of money. The police encourage anyone receiving similar calls to report them immediately to the nearest Police Station, District Police Stations, or the Citizen's Line at 1460.