Elderly woman in Limassol loses €42,500 after a phone scam call

A major fraud case has been recorded in Limassol, with a 73-year-old local resident becoming the victim after transferring a large sum of money to the criminals. The perpetrators acted according to a well-practiced psychological pressure scheme and posed as law enforcement officers. The scammer contacted the pensioner by phone and introduced himself as a police officer investigating a case involving serious financial fraud and theft of personal data. The fraudster told the woman that her bank accounts were at risk of being blocked and that her savings could be irretrievably stolen by criminal groups if she did not take urgent protective measures.

To save her money, the fake police officer persuaded the victim to urgently withdraw all the cash from her account and temporarily transfer it to a so-called safe government account, which, according to him, had been opened especially for her by law enforcement authorities. Under severe stress, the woman followed all the caller’s instructions, went to the bank, withdrew forty-two thousand five hundred euros and transferred the entire amount to the specified details via a fast transfer system. The scammers stopped answering immediately after the transaction was confirmed, after which the victim realized she had been deceived and filed an official complaint with the Limassol Criminal Investigation Department. Cyprus Police once again reminds residents that official representatives of banks, courts, or law enforcement agencies never request confidential data, do not demand the transfer of cash to third-party accounts over the phone, and urges citizens to immediately end such conversations.