21 Passports Photographed via Phone, Unsecured Loans Taken: 3,630,000 AMD Stolen

The preliminary investigation into significant fraud committed by two residents of the Lori region has been completed. This was reported by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia.

According to the factual data obtained from the investigative and procedural actions carried out by the Lori Regional Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, it has been established that a 35-year-old resident of the Lori region, in pre-arrangement with a 53-year-old resident of the same region, conspired to embezzle funds from unsecured loans provided through remote banking services. With the assistance of the 53-year-old woman, personal data of several citizens were obtained, and online contracts were concluded in their names, resulting in the embezzlement of a total of 3,630,000 AMD.

Specifically, as per the prior arrangement, the 53-year-old woman convinced her fellow villagers, acquaintances, and relatives, claiming she was incorporating them into a group created for online trading or was waiting to receive money from abroad but that her bank account was blocked. She also mentioned wanting to see their passport photographs. After entering phone numbers into the banking application on her mobile phone and creating pages, she photographed the aforementioned individuals and their passports through the internet payment system in this manner. Thus, the 53-year-old woman identified and registered them in the application and formalized the accounts, passing on the usernames and passwords to the 35-year-old man.

The latter, having access to the personal information of these individuals in the internet payment system, obtained the ability to sign loan agreements through remote banking services. In their names, he opened a bank account and electronically concluded 21 contracts, resulting in the fraudulent embezzlement of a total of 3,630,000 AMD from the company involved.

Based on sufficient evidence obtained, the 53-year-old woman has been charged under Articles 255, part 2, points 1 and 3 of the RA Criminal Code and Article 38-325, part 1 of the former Criminal Code (21 episodes), while the 35-year-old man has been charged under the same articles. A preventive measure of prohibition from leaving has been chosen for them.

The preliminary investigation has been completed. The materials of the criminal case, with an accusatory conclusion, have been sent to the supervising prosecutor for approval and for submission to the court,” the announcement states.