Fraudulent Scheme Results in Theft of $9,000 from Citizen

A report has been received from a person with dual citizenship of Armenia and the USA, stating that $9,000 was fraudulently taken from them under the pretext of purchasing an apartment.

The Investigative Committee of Armenia has announced that initial findings indicate that the citizen had decided to purchase a property to accommodate a family of refugees relocated from Artsakh to Yerevan during the war that broke out in September 2020, instigated by Azerbaijan.

Seeing an advertisement for a two-room apartment on an online shopping platform located on Sayat Nova Street in Yerevan, worth $18,000, the citizen contacted the so-called 'owner of the apartment,' a person named 'Vladimir.' The individual claimed to be living in Portugal and asked the buyer to transfer half of the apartment's price, amounting to $9,000, to his bank account, requesting the buyer to take a photo of the transaction receipt and send it to him to ensure that the buyer had the necessary funds to proceed with the purchase.

In accordance with their agreement, the buyer transferred $9,000 on October 15, 2020, to the account belonging to 'MoneyGram' from a branch of an Armenian bank and then sent a photo of the receipt to the person claiming to sell the apartment. A few days later, this individual sent another message to the buyer, demanding the remaining $9,000, which the buyer refused to pay.

Suspecting that they might have fallen victim to a fraud, the buyer sought to recover the transferred funds, only to be informed by the bank that the entire amount had been cashed out under their name in the Saratov region of Russia.

A criminal case has been initiated regarding the incident at the Shengavit division of the Yerevan investigative department of the Armenian police, with charges of fraud. The pre-investigation is being carried out by the Yerevan investigative department's Shengavit administrative division of the Investigative Committee of Armenia. During the investigation, other investigative and procedural actions have been conducted, revealing the fraudulent mechanism used.

Further investigation has also uncovered an attempt to conduct a transaction by the individual in the same manner with another person. The pre-investigation is ongoing, and measures are being taken to identify the person claiming to be 'Vladimir' and to find other potential victims of his actions.

The prosecuting body urges citizens to remain vigilant to avoid becoming victims of fraud and requests that anyone who may have been affected by the actions of the person described above contact the Shengavit administrative division of the Yerevan investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Armenia or the nearest police station.