A 41-year-old foreign citizen was arrested in Leiria for the crime of fraud based on the phenomenon known as “Hello, Mother / Hello, Father”, with victims throughout the national territory and also widespread in other European countries.
Following a complaint, the Judiciary Police, through the Leiria Criminal Investigation Department, began an investigation, and found that, in the area of this DIC, this type of fraud exceeds 200 complaints, with values that, in total, exceed 100 thousand euros.
The victims, many of them elderly people, believed that they were talking to their children and that they were in financial difficulties or in need of making urgent payments, were immediately ready to make a transfer whose values varied, but which, in some cases, amounted to thousands of euros.
According to the PJ, «in investigative terms, coincidences were established between investigations and a very pronounced use of unrepeatable mobile phone numbers from national operators was noted for the practice of this type of illicit activity, which triggered alerts and forced the use of special means of obtaining evidence”.
At the time, there were many doubts about how they operated and how they managed to make so many requests for money, via the WhatsApp platform, and then achieve what they wanted.
Thus, after several steps and with judicial authorization, a home search warrant was executed and a foreign citizen was arrested, in flagrante delicto, for committing the crime of qualified fraud.
In a note, the PJ also informs that seven modems were seized that attached 32 SIM cards per device, meaning that 224 cards operated simultaneously.
«This operability allowed the sending/receiving of messages, meaning that thousands of messages could be sent in one day, with the arguments known as “hello dad, hello mom”», explains the police, noting that the suspect interacted with third parties, in network, being able to carry out similar schemes in the national territory, as well as in other countries.
The investigation identified the massive use of cards, evidenced by the fact that thousands of cards were seized, more than seven thousand cards unused and more than one thousand and five hundred already used in this crime.
«In the end, it became noticeable that modus operandi, given the evidence collected, the present investigation and police operation frustrate the consummation, in national territory and across borders, of thousands of computer frauds», concludes the PJ.
The detainee will be presented to the Judicial Authorities for the first judicial interrogation and application of coercive measures.
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