Impersonated Friend Living in the USA to Commit Large-Scale Fraud

The Investigative Committee of Armenia has uncovered significant evidence during the pre-investigation of a criminal case regarding cyber crimes and high technologies. It has been established that individuals D.G. and V.S. created fake profiles on the social media platform Facebook, primarily using the photos of compatriots living in the USA.

Under the guise of being friends and relatives of these individuals, they solicited money through various deceptive claims, exploiting trust. To achieve this, they provided electronic wallet details identified by previously created phone numbers or the details of electronic wallets and bank cards belonging to operators engaged in crypto-asset transactions in Armenia, successfully stealing the funds transferred by the victims.

Moreover, D.G. and V.S. acted in concert to launder an especially large sum of 10,542,500 AMD. Specifically, they converted large amounts of money stolen from an indefinite circle into cryptocurrency, which was later sold at another exchange point, converting it back into 10,542,500 AMD. They subsequently received this money into the accounts of electronic wallets registered under the names of D.G. and A.H. through money laundering operations.

A public criminal prosecution has been initiated against D.G. and V.S. under Article 255, Part 2, Points 1 and 3 (fraud committed by a group of individuals in premeditated agreement) and Article 296, Part 3, Point 3 (money laundering in especially large amounts) of the Criminal Code. D.G. has been subjected to home arrest, bail, and a travel ban, while V.S. has been placed in custody with a search warrant issued against him.

As a result of the investigations, 686,000 AMD of the losses has been recovered. The criminal proceedings against D.G. have been sent to the supervising prosecutor with an accusatory conclusion, seeking to forward it to the court for substantive examination.

Notice: An accused individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law in accordance with the established procedure of the Criminal Procedure Code.