It was Monday, February 13, and the main character of this story (let’s call her Katerina) woke up at 5.30 in the morning. In a few days she is going abroad to visit her relatives and has a lot to do. Despite her retirement, she continued to lead an active social life. When her landline rang at 6:26 that afternoon, she was sitting in the living room reading the Sunday papers. As soon as he picked up the phone, he heard a heartbreaking voice. “My mother, my mother. Save me.” It never occurred to her that it might not be her daughter. It also helped that he always calls her Mom instead of Mom. Before she could ask what happened to her, another woman answered the phone. “Cop Georgia Georgiadu from GADA. I want you to listen to me very carefully. Leave your landline open and tell me your mobile number so I can call you there. But I want you to sit in a chair.” Hearing this, 78 “Tell me what happened,” he asked her again and again. “First you must do what I tell you,” she insisted. She followed the instructions and I ran to look for my cell phone, which was the beginning of an incredible adventure.

Over the next 16 hours, he received a total of 53 calls. They were all secret. Later, he learns that it was not visible from GADA, but from nine different Romanian numbers. He was the victim of a notorious telephone scam. The attackers managed to steal money and jewelry for a total of 155,000 euros.

Trick

“Your daughter ran a red light and mortally wounded an 8-year-old girl,” the “constable” told her. “Her parents are from Albania. They are divorced. The mother has already signed your daughter’s release. But the father asks for money. He brought his people here, to GADA, and I am very afraid that they will raise a fuss.” Katerina asked again and again to speak to her daughter. The “policewoman” severely interrupted her. “I don’t think you realize the criticality of the situation. Your child will go to prison for at least 10 years. Since I am a mother myself and understand what you are going through, I wanted to help. Usually I study in a short time. I was going to ask the officer to work the next shift to attend to you. If you still don’t want to…” Her voice sounded serious—her Greek was perfect. It never occurred to her that it might be a scam. “Tell me what to do,” he said.

“Father wants 200,000 euros tonight.” “But where can I get so much money,” Katerina answered in a panic. “Tell me what you can give tonight and tomorrow when the banks open and I’ll see how I manage.” “I have 500 euros at home. A few gold pieces, the only stone of my marriage…” “We don’t do business like that,” commented the “policewoman.”

She then thought that a good friend of hers at home had the €5,000 that their group had raised for the trip they were going on together. He asked permission to call her on the condition that he would not say a word about why he needed the money. She talked to her friend, but as soon as she hung up, the “cop” who had been listening to her cell phone all this time started yelling at her. “I’m trying to help you, and you’ll burn me.” I told you not to talk to her.” “I didn’t say anything, I swear,” Katerina insisted anxiously. “It’s good that I want you,” she said a little more calmly.

Under control

He instructed her to take the money and go down to the center of Athens, to Karaiskaki Square. There she sent a confidant for them. Katerina, perhaps out of panic, did not know how to get there. – Shall I take a taxi? “No. You will have to come in your own car. You will go to the taxi stand and ask someone to take you there. There is a reason.” The reason seems to have been to avoid talking to anyone and exposing a scam. However, she did as she was told.

There were traffic jams on the road and it took them over 45 minutes to get to their destination. All this time the two women were talking on the phone. “When we receive this first money, I believe that I will be able to prevent your daughter from staying at GADA today. To go home and come back in the morning. But be careful. He will wear an insect chip. We will listen to her. Don’t talk to anyone.”

A phone call that began with the phrase “Mom, mom. Save me,” turned the old woman into a slave of thugs. She will do whatever is asked of her to help her child.

It was 9:30 pm when he arrived at Karaiskaki Square. Pay for a taxi and wait. For the next fifteen minutes, he followed instructions on the phone. “Go towards the KATERINA hotel… stay there… Now walk 20 meters and turn left… There you will find a planter. Wait for my signal to drop the bag.

“Obviously they were watching you and wanted to make sure you weren’t escorted by one of us,” Kifissia security officials who took on the case later told her. At 9:45 p.m., Katerina was seen on cameras in nearby shops, leaving a huge bag behind the planter. A minute and a half later, another woman comes to the scene and takes her in her arms. He has bright red hair, possibly wearing a wig, a long coat, and a surgical mask.

On the way back, the “policeman” told Katerina the first good news. “We did it. Your daughter will sleep with her family tonight. If you follow our instructions tomorrow, everything will be fine.” However, after a while, he informed her of a new event. “You should stay at the hotel today. like crows waiting for the article. I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before your story gets out and they could be under your house. He needs a lot of attention.”

Like mesmerized

Katerina had already given in to everything he told her. Without a second thought, as if under hypnosis. He couldn’t sleep in the hotel room. Every half an hour he called her on the phone. At 5.30 am she wanted to go to her house to have breakfast there. No sooner had she left the hotel than the telephone rang and she heard a “policeman” yelling at her. “Why did you leave? I told you that you would not enter your house until the banks opened.” Katerina realized that she was being watched there too and felt strange. to end this adventure and see their daughter.

At 8 o’clock in the morning, he was standing near the bank, waiting for the entrance to the room with cashiers. He opened the box and quickly put the money envelopes into a supermarket bag. He also inserted bobbins of gold pounds. But, holding one of them in her hands, she stopped abruptly and put it back in the locker. It was the only thing that had her father’s letters on it. “To my Catherine,” he wrote to her. For the first time, she wanted to cry because of what was happening to her. But she tried to keep her cool. He went out again, waiting for instructions. The “cop” asked her to put her bag under the trash can. And whatever money he then took from a withdrawal in another bank, he again took it out in the center of Athens. It is not known why, after analyzing the footage from all cameras, law enforcement officers saw that both bags were taken by the same woman with red hair.

At 10 am the last phone call was made. “Your daughter is free. He will call you tomorrow morning,” he told her and hung up. Katerina, already at home, tried to sleep, but as soon as she fell asleep, she was shaking. Although she felt relieved, she was very saddened by the loss of a small child, the burden that her child would be to carry for life. In the afternoon, she could not stand it and sent a text message to her daughter. “I canceled the trip. I’m waiting for your phone number so we can meet.” Her daughter was at work, completely oblivious to what her mother had to go through. “Mom, what happened? Why did you cancel your trip? Nothing more was required. As soon as she heard her daughter’s voice, she immediately understood what had happened. How she was deceived.

In safety

The daughter got into the car and drove straight to her father’s house. There she found her mother in poor condition. Together they went to Kifisia’s security service to testify. The officers explained to them that this was a well-known trick. “They usually tell different versions of the story they told you. Sometimes they say that a relative had an accident, had an operation and urgently needed money to buy expensive medical equipment. There are people who paid 10,000 euros for surgical blades.” From their research, they established how they “operate” by region. “Every 15 days we have dozens of attempts in a certain area.” And indeed, when it was declassified and “opened” by the Romanian phones from which Katerina called, they saw that Peristeri (8 different people) called that day, and then focused on Kifisia (9 more calls, until she finally called ). The officers requested a link. They were sure that the attackers had thrown away SIM cards with specific numbers, but they hoped that they could use the same devices with a new connection and thus track them. But the criminals were one step ahead. Even the devices were in working order and not reused. “The investigation is ongoing,” she was told. Of course, they know that even if they are caught, it is only a matter of time before others continue similar actions.

In November 22, Piraeus security officials unraveled the spiral by identifying 12 suspects and arresting two of them – two women aged 67 and 54 – who were involved in 21 cases of similar frauds. The organization had an operational call center in Bulgaria and “collectors” in Athens, whom they recruited through social media advertising. Mobile phones and SIM cards, handwritten notes showing location, dates, amounts and receipts from money transfer companies in Bulgaria were seized from the homes of two women.