Lithuanian residents lose €74,300 to phone scams

Lithuanian residents have lost €74,300 in three separate phone scams reported to police in the past day, according to a report by LRT.

In the first case, a 78-year-old woman from the Kaišiadorys district reported losing €4,500 after a Russian-speaking caller, posing as a police officer, tricked her into handing over the money to an unknown man who visited her home. The same woman later received another call from a Russian-speaking woman, also claiming to be a police officer, who convinced her to withdraw €23,000 from a bank and hand it over to another unknown man.

In Jonava, a 60-year-old woman was scammed out of €23,860 after Russian-speaking callers, posing as employees of Google and a bank, convinced her to hand over her bank card to an unknown man. Two suspects, born in 1989 and 2002, have been detained in connection with this case.

In Vilnius, a 64-year-old man was tricked into taking out a €15,000 loan and handing over his bank card after receiving a call from Russian-speaking individuals posing as employees of Google, a bank, and police officers. He later discovered that €23,000 had been illegally withdrawn from his bank account.

Police have launched pre-trial investigations into all three cases.