28 Individuals Cheated Out of 17 Million AMD by Promising Favorable Loan Conditions

The investigation into a fraud case managed by the main department for particularly important cases of the Investigative Committee has concluded for five defendants.

It has been established and substantiated during the pre-investigation stage that from August 2019 to June 2020, a group of individuals, with a unified intention, conspired to commit acts of fraud. This was reported by the Public Relations Department of the RA Investigative Committee.

To implement their intent, the group members, hiding their criminal intentions, approached a provider of computer services and used registered pages on Facebook.com to spread advertisements about offering loans under favorable conditions. The companies mentioned in these advertisements were not financial or credit organizations and were not registered in the State Register of Legal Entities of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia.

Based on these advertisements, citizens who applied and expressed a desire to receive loans were invited to previously rented office spaces at various addresses in Yerevan. They claimed that for a commission fee of 30-35 percent, they could arrange for them to receive loan amounts from various banks and credit organizations in their name or indirectly acquire household appliances and mobile phones under a credit arrangement, sell them, and provide the resulting funds.

Subsequently, by abusing the trust of the citizens who approached them, they guided them to different banks, credit, and commercial organizations, fraudulently obtaining the loan amounts, goods, or receipts for their acquisition by presenting that it was necessary to deposit the received funds into the office, make final calculations, liquidate the acquired goods, and calculate the amount of commission fees, after which they would provide the promised amounts in full. However, the obtained property and funds were stolen.

The investigation also revealed that the group members employed additional methods of deceit and trust abuse during the execution of their criminal intentions. Specifically, by obtaining the personal data of the citizens who approached them, they registered accounts in payment systems in their names, through which they received loan amounts online from a credit company, but did not provide the funds to them. Instead, having access to the accounts registered in the names of these individuals, they cashed out the loan amounts through transfers and stole them.

Additionally, to citizens who received loans, they fraudulently claimed that they would be providing larger loan amounts in the future and, abusing their trust, fraudulently obtained the calculated commission fees for the promised amounts, yet no additional funds were provided.

In another case, they fraudulently took certain amounts of money from citizens who received loans, stating that these were needed for interest repayments, but no repayments were made, and the borrowed amounts were stolen.

As a result of their criminal activities, the funds, goods, or receipts for their acquisition stolen by the group members were handed over to the group leader, who compensated them with certain amounts as salaries.

According to data obtained during the pre-investigation, 28 individuals were victimized by the actions of this criminal group, and a total of 17 million AMD was embezzled through fraud.

Charges have been brought against two of the group members under the first point of the third part of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and the other three under the first and second points of the second part of Article 178.

For these five defendants, the completion of the pre-investigation has been announced, and the criminal case, including an accusatory conclusion, has been sent to court, with a restriction measure chosen as a signature not to leave.

The leader of the criminal group has been implicated as a defendant under the first point of the third part of Article 178 of the Criminal Code, and a search warrant has been issued for him, with imprisonment selected as a measure of restraint. A separate proceeding has been initiated regarding him, and the investigation is ongoing.

Measures are being taken to identify other individuals victimized by the actions of the criminal group, as well as any potential other members of the group.

Citizens are advised to:
ü Only apply to banks or credit organizations licensed by the Central Bank for loan applications and avoid users offering loans on the internet.
ü Under no circumstances provide personal data, including passwords for electronic wallets or valid conditions for bank cards, to anyone, especially online.

Notice: A suspect or accused in the alleged crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty under the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia by a legally binding court judgment.