False promises

Internet fraudsters scam victims out of tens of thousands of euros

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(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

A fake crypto investment and a fake share deal - scammers used these two scams to extract large sums of money from the wallets of a woman from Pongau and a man from Pinzgau. One of the perpetrators has been tracked down. 

A 35-year-old woman from Pongau was the victim of cyber fraudsters. The woman was contacted by an unknown person via a social network in February and instructed to invest in cryptocurrency. By June, she had transferred a total of 14 deposits to the perpetrator's wallets under the instructions of the unknown person. All of them on different crypto platforms.

When no payments were made later, she filed a complaint. In September, the perpetrator again gained access to the woman's account. Five more withdrawals followed. In total, the woman from Pongau suffered a loss of almost 70,000 euros. After a lengthy investigation, a Nigerian was identified. He will be reported to the Salzburg public prosecutor's office.

IPO failed to materialize
Another victim of fraudsters was a 43-year-old man from Pinzgau. The brazen internet thieves persuaded him to buy several shares between January and July by transferring money to a Swiss trust account. Returns through an IPO were promised.

The man transferred 22,000 euros. Because the IPO failed to materialize and the fiduciary bank went bankrupt, the man became suspicious and contacted the seller. The seller promised to reverse the transaction, but this has not yet taken place. The Pinzgauer filed a complaint with the police on December 22. Further investigations will follow.