Businessman on Crete loses money to fraudsters posing as local gvt

A well-known Cretan businessman fell victim to wily scammers and saw his company’s account stripped bare – within seconds!

The impressive thing is that although he himself almost immediately realized that a scam was being set up, he did not manage to save the money, also because of the inaction shown by the bank despite contacting them immediately!

It was all done in a matter of minutes.

The alleged phone call from the district

The Cretan businessman based in Heraklion, according to information from cretalive.gr, received a phone call from an “employee of the region of Crete” who mentioned his name and particulars in order, he said, to deisburse an invoice owed by the region to him, an amount of around 700 euros for an event that had taken place at his place.

This particular scammer was not just convincing, but absolutely clear, as he mentioned the invoice details, the dates and even the name of the supervisor who signed the payment document!

“Everything was clear and unambiguous. There was nothing objectionable. They phoned me knowing all the facts,” the businessman told cretalive. At the same time he received an email as they told him about the acceptance of the payment – disbursement from the district. That was the mistake. As soon as he clicked on the link he actually entered and provided the information, but at almost immediately he had misgivings that something was wrong.

“Things developed very quickly, but I suspected something,” says the businessman who, while talking to the fraudster on one line, using another he called the bank and asked for the account to be checked.

“Your account is blocked” they told him and when he asked for it to be unblocked and for no transaction to be made from the bank they asked for… a specific document.

In the conversation above, which didn’t last more than a few seconds, they found that more than 10,000 euros had already left the account!

They snaped up the data of the invoice from “Diavegia.gr” government site

“I was misled by the information given to me by the fraudsters and I was convinced at first, but when I understood what happened and phoned the bank there was no immediate reaction” said the businessman who later realized that the document-invoice was uploaded to “Diavegia” and from there they got all the details! A well organized and…intelligent crime!

The businessman made the right moves, going to the Police to register the crime, to the banks, but he appeals to everyone not to be led astray by a phone call, or a malicious email!

“Unfortunately, I stumbled into the trap, so that others don’t fall for it. We must not trust a phone call no matter where it supposedly comes from, do not open emails, always be suspicious,” he said.