Multiple Cases of Fraud and Money Laundering Revealed by Investigative Committee

The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia has disclosed several details surrounding cases of fraud and money laundering as a result of extensive investigative and procedural actions conducted by the Main Department for the Investigation of Especially Important Cases.

According to information obtained during the investigation, a 34-year-old man, during the years 2019-2020, registered individual accounts on the Facebook social network under the names "Varker Sev Cucakum Gtnvoxnerin" and "Loans for Individuals on Black List". He communicated with over 30 citizens via the Messenger app and phone calls, presenting himself as an employee of a credit organization.

Offering false promises to assist them in eliminating and correcting their negative credit history in the Arka Credit Bureau and obtaining new loans under favorable conditions, he fraudulently requested money and received significant amounts via the payment systems “Tell Sell,” “Easy Pay,” and “Idram” to 41 fake, unidentified individual accounts controlled by his betting company. Additionally, he identified 9 accounts associated with randomly named individuals in the Idram payment systems and misappropriated large sums totaling 8,222,200 AMD from the bank card accounts of three citizens.

In a bid to conceal the criminal origin and movement of the stolen funds, the theft was partially lost through gambling on the betting company's 41 fake, unidentified individual accounts, as well as on other identified gaming accounts he managed. Subsequently, the generated monetary amounts from these accounts were transferred to his personal accounts in the Idram payment system and subsequently cashed out at various offices of the betting company.

Based on sufficient evidence, the 34-year-old man has been charged under Article 178, Part 3, Clause 1 of the RA Criminal Code for fraud and Article 190, Part 2, Clause 1 for money laundering. A travel restriction in the form of a written pledge not to leave has been imposed on him. The pre-trial investigation has been completed, and the criminal case has been sent to the prosecutor's office with a motion to confirm the accusatory conclusion.

Note: The suspect or accused in the alleged crime is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, by a legally binding decision of the court.