Evgenia Dzhenezova-Peeva, who warned about the van scam on Facebook, reported the scheme to the police. She spent nearly two hours explaining to officers at the Fourth Regional Police Department in Burgas how she had fallen victim to the clever scammer and then gave a written explanation.
„I printed them all the photos I had as screenshots of the guy. They told me to expect a call from their colleague who will tell me what’s next,“, she told a journalist of Iskra.bg.
Peeva also considered visiting the bank used by the scammer and alerting them that he had an account with them, but the police stopped her: „They told me that there was no point in general because it was a processed scheme and there was nothing they could do from the bank.“
But how did it all start? On 6 February, Peeva saw an ad on Facebook for a second-hand van for sale at the modest price of BGN 2,000. She told Iskra.bg:
„I’ve seen these ads before, but they were for vans already purchased. They were for sale in our region. The ad didn’t look suspicious to me at all. I consulted with my husband. He called the phone number given in the ad directly because it said if anyone was interested – to call directly. The pictures looked real. Everything exactly. On the phone, the guy answered immediately, but sounded very processed. We did not see each other in person. He said he was currently in Turkey and we couldn’t see the van – we insisted on seeing it in person and giving a deposit. However, he spent half an hour explaining how he was inhibited and to think about whether we really wanted to buy it, and if we were sure of that – to give a deposit so he could remove the advert, accordingly, from the page given. It didn’t strike me at all that the page wasn’t, say, „Ads in the Burgas Region“ or wherever, but was in the „Thoughts and Quotes“ group, which is doubtful, but then my light bulb didn’t go on.“
The perpetrator convinced his victim skillfully. As a result, Peeva’s husband began to convince her that they had to believe that everything was accurate and reminded her that when they traveled to Turkey, they also shut down their internet. She agreed from a purely human point of view. She understood that the requested deposit was 200 BGN.
„I asked my husband – „Are you sure“, and he replied, „He assured me that absolutely everything is fine, that when we see the van live on Wednesday /that was when they met/, if we don’t like something, he will return the deposit“. We sent him via online banking the agreed amount and then nothing.“
On Wednesday, the two sides had to agree on when exactly the meeting, which was supposed to be in Yambol, would take place. However, the seller’s phone was switched off.
Earlier in the day, Peeva took screenshots of the gentleman’s Facebook profile. Just in case. She started looking into his social network activity, and it turned out that he had reposted the ad in three different groups that day.
„I started to comment that I was interested and wanted to purchase the van given. I saw a phone number that didn’t match the ones I have and started to call him, but he disconnected me. I told him that there was nowhere for me to get the number and I would keep calling him so I could find out if it was a scam and what was going on. Not long after I commented on all his ads that I was interested, he asked for my friendship and then – for my phone number. I explained to him that I had been trying to contact him for half an hour, but he was shutting me down. He replied to me – „Is that so? I’ll contact you in 15 minutes,“, Peeva recalled, adding:
„The gentleman rang me and started raving about how glad he was that I had called him. However, I insisted that we meet in person to see the van and purchase it. He started in the same way as the conversation with my husband – „I’m in Turkey, you can see me on Friday“. I told him – „Perfect! Friday suits me, tell me the time and place, I’m there.“ He said, „OK – the city of Yambol“, but he stopped on the street and felt around. He asked me if I was sure I would buy it and if so to send him a deposit. Then I didn’t hold back. I gave myself away – I told him I couldn’t give a deposit a second time as I’d already been ripped off once and to explain what was happening – I had neither a van nor the money back. He immediately apologized to me, asked if I was sure the ad was from his account, if it was from someone else. I started showing him that these were his names, the bank account was in his name. He said he would check, there was no problem. He started charming me again, saying that there had been a mistake. Some colleague of his had made a mistake and they would send me a van the very next day. I replied that today I wanted either the van or the money. He said he couldn’t today and because of that I insisted he give me my money back. He wrote to me – „OK“ and then blocked me.“
Peeva then shared a Facebook post to warn more people to beware and to get the case publicised online. She was subsequently contacted by a woman who told her that she had been „burned“ with a downpayment of BGN 500 in a similar scheme. The names of the man were different, but the pictures of the van were the same.
On Saturday, Iskra.bg received a letter in which a woman, who requested anonymity, claimed that on February 10 she had transferred money to the person in question and the van was supposed to arrive the next day.
The third scammed family came across the ad on February 8 and the man immediately contacted the user who posted it.
„The guy was so good at explaining to my husband that the way you look at it in the picture was the way it was in person. Everything seemed fine, he asked for a 300 BGN security deposit because more people were interested in buying it and that was the condition to take the ad down. He sent him a bank account. He told us he was leaving for us on Friday or Saturday /near Sofia/ and no news since. Phones are off, Facebook is gone, the ad has been taken down, nothing. All in all, this is our story of the past week,“, the woman concluded.
We remind you that yesterday the Ministry of the Interior announced that two residents of Burgas were detained for participating in a fraud related to prefabricated houses. However, their names are not mentioned and at the moment it is not known whether they also lied to the women who contacted Iskra.bg.
