Emergency: A Citizen's Lost Passport Used to Secure Loans of 1 Million Drams, Police Show Inaction

Khachatur Mikayelyan shared a noteworthy story on his Facebook page. On November 14, he forgot his handbag in a taxi and reported it to the police shortly after getting out. A few days later, he discovered that large loans had been secured in his name by the taxi driver.

“Dear friends, I want to share an interesting wealth acquisition scheme with all of you. Let's start from the beginning. To avoid parking issues in Yerevan on November 14, I used the city's famous transport, getting into a random OPEL taxi. Traveling from the well-known shopping center to the Yerevan Municipality, I struck up a conversation with my fellow traveler; I am originally from Gyumri. When I got out of the taxi, I realized I had left my handbag, which is commonly referred to as a 'bartsretka', inside the cab. I immediately called the police, thinking it would be a 10-minute problem for them. They asked me to wait at the spot. About an hour later, I received a call inviting me to the Central Police Station. There, I filed a report about the loss and mentioned that my ID card, military registration book, 300,000 drams, cards, and other items were in the handbag. Confident in the prompt actions of law enforcement, I went home with ease. That’s when everything began.

On November 15, one of my friends called and informed me that someone had attempted a transaction using my passport at one of the well-known banks. I informed the investigator and asked them to quickly find the taxi, while I also began my search. By the evening, I had all the details about the driver. The police called in the taxi driver for questioning; he appeared on November 18 and claimed he had nothing to do with it. That same day (Monday), I took the initiative to visit the ‘AKRA’ credit bureau, inquiring and discovering that 16 credit inquiries had been made in my name within a span of four days. I presented this information to the police and visited the banks listed in the inquiries. Upon entering the first three banks, I found out that loans totaling nearly 1,000,000 drams had been issued in my name. I took the loan agreements, filed complaints, and brought the information to the police. That same day, I visited the NSS, the Central Bank, and the Passport Division, discovering that the report submitted to the police was not sufficient to suspend my passport. I found details about the store that issued the loans, extracted images of the criminal taxi driver from the surveillance cameras, and forwarded them to the police.

On November 19, I visited the Central Police Station and submitted a new report with all the details and evidence of the aforementioned individual, urging them to initiate a criminal case immediately. On November 20, a friend from one of the malls called me, providing information that our protagonist was attempting to secure a loan again at one of the stores. I informed the investigator, who urged me to call 1-02. This time, the police from the Malatya division and I went to the mall, but the criminal had already left. I provided all the details to them, effectively pointing out the brazen criminal who was still at large. The next day, I called the investigator from the Central Division and found out that they had not yet opened a criminal case and were planning to do so to ‘help’ me. I learned from the Malatya division that they had contacted this individual and that he would be coming to the station with his lawyer in the evening (I remind you that I collected and submitted all the photos and evidence myself).

Today, November 22, I have been trying to reach the investigators since the morning, but they aren’t answering their phones. I remind you that it has been 8 days since the loss was reported, and all relevant information about the perpetrator has been known for 7 days. All solid evidence has been presented to the police for 5 days already, and 3 days have passed since the report regarding the criminal activity at the mall was filed. I don’t know what the term 'operational' means, but I believe that the word 'operational' is being misused in the context of the 1-02 reports. You can judge for yourselves the rest of the situation.

P.S. I would like to note that the banks that issued these loans are listed among Armenia's leading banks; I will provide further information in my upcoming posts,” Khachatur Mikayelyan wrote.