5000-7000 Dram Rental of Support Columns, Sold for 300,000 Dram: Details

On May 24, police in Masis received operational information regarding fraud. According to the data, two residents of Masis and one Yerevan resident were using an advertisement posted on social media to claim they were renting construction support columns, only to take the construction materials from individuals, transport them to Masis, and sell them at below-market prices. This was reported by the National Police of Armenia.

It was revealed that a 34-year-old man from Masis and a 33-year-old man from Yerevan contacted a resident of Oshakan village through the indicated phone number in the social media advertisement and ordered support columns for rent at a price of 7,000 dram. Subsequently, with the involvement of a 24-year-old resident of Masis and a third person, more than 400 meters of support columns were organized for transport to the home of a 37-year-old man in Masis. They had previously agreed with a buyer to sell the columns for 400,000 dram.

To transport the columns to the location specified by a 40-year-old buyer from Yerevan, the 24-year-old from Masis made arrangements with a 59-year-old fellow townsman, and they attempted to carry out this latest operation using his truck. However, on May 24 at 19:10, Masis police arrested the 24-year-old and the 59-year-old on suspicion of fraud and took them to the Masis police department. The car driven by the young man, a 'VAZ-2107', and the truck laden with the stolen goods were moved to a secure location.

The next day, a criminal case was initiated in the Masis investigative department, and as a result of measures taken and new operational information, new instances of fraud were revealed. It was found that they similarly, through deceit and breach of trust, had rented about 200 meters of support columns on April 29 for 5,000 dram, which they transported to Masis and sold for 300,000 dram. The same occurred on April 26, when the fraudsters purportedly rented molds for a daily fee of 2,000 dram, transported them to Norabats village and sold 24 molds for 300,000 dram.

As of now, this is all that is known in the investigation. Reports have been accepted from all victims, and efforts are underway to identify other participants in the crime and locate the stolen molds.