Romanian Police go after jailed criminals in local 'accident scheme' phone fraud case

The Romanian Police are trying to dismantle a crime operation originating form the very system which is meant to punish crime: the country's jail system. Police are currently doing searches in Galaţi, Iaşi, Craiova, Tulcea, Mărgineni-Giurgiu prisons, as well as at 42 homes in Bucharest, searching for people who were suspected on having defrauded Romanians via phone in a scheme called 'the accident'. The Police are targeting 14 imprisoned people, 8 in the Galati jail, two each in the Iasi and Tulcea jails, one in the Craiova and and one the Mărgineni-Giurgiu jail. They allegedly called people and told them a family member of a close friend was involved in a car accident which caused victims, and in order to prevent their arrest, they had to send large amounts of money via bank courier. The criminals were pretending to be lawyers or relatives of the victims, according to the Police.The 'accident scheme' already led to 78 criminal files opened in Bucharest. In theory, once jailed, the thieves should have not been allowed access to a mobile phone in order to stay in touch with the outside world. A team of as many as 500 people from the Police all across Romania is involved in this investigation. editor@romania-insider.com