Criminal Group Steals Large Sums from People Under the Pretext of Fast Loans, Says NSS

The employees of the National Security Service of Armenia's Information Security and Government Relations Department have conducted operational intelligence measures that revealed that B.B. and D.A. collaborated with the intent to fraudulently steal large sums of money from various individuals. They formed a stable organized group, and within it, they distributed roles to successfully achieve their criminal goals.

To execute their plan without obstacles, they hired a specialist in the computer field and posted advertisements on the social network Facebook, claiming that the organization 'Rapid Support' provided loans up to 4 million AMD within just 10 minutes, without a guarantor and without a credit history to those facing financial difficulties.

The members of the organized group directed dozens of individuals to enter the website 'ajakic.com', where the victims filled out online applications for loans. B.B., one of the group members, later contacted these applicants by phone, pretending to be an employee of the loan organization using fictitious names. He misled the individuals seeking loans by providing false assurances that their loan amounts had been approved and requested them to transfer an advance payment equal to the first month's loan repayment to accounts previously opened in the 'Tel Sell' payment system at the mobile numbers 094-60-58-68 and 077-13-73-62 within the next 20 minutes.

By this method, they fraudulently obtained approximately 3,939,800 AMD from over ten individuals between July and September 2021. A member of the organized group later cashed these amounts from the 'Tel Sell' payment system on various days.

A criminal case has been initiated by the Investigation Department of the NSS of Armenia regarding the significant theft committed by the organized group, and the aforementioned individuals have been detained on suspicion of committing particularly large-scale theft. Applications for their arrest have been submitted to the court.

At the current stage of the criminal proceedings, necessary investigative and procedural actions are being carried out based on the analysis and evaluation of operational, investigative, and judicial data to uncover all possible manifestations of the identified criminal collaboration, specific episodes, and the complete scope of victims.

The NSS of Armenia urges all citizens who have fallen victim to similar actions of said organized group to report to law enforcement and recommends using only verified or verifiable systems to avoid being in a vulnerable situation.

Notice: The person suspected or accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law of the Republic of Armenia through a court decision that has entered into legal force.