The investigation began after a man reported that he had listed items for sale on a social network. A buyer sent a payment receipt for an amount higher than agreed. Then, claiming it was a mistake, he requested the return of the difference and began the fraudulent scheme.
The complainant was contacted by another person who pretended to be a bank employee and gave him instructions to regularize the transaction. Following those instructions, he transferred all his funds to a virtual wallet. Later, the scammers tried to maintain pressure with new calls.
The next day, they insisted with another scheme, requesting a loan to release supposedly blocked funds, but the attempt failed. The victim, after this, immediately became suspicious. Thus, he noticed the irregularity in the requests and decided to cut off communication, stopping the scam from progressing.
Ana Inés Salinas Odorisio, fiscal Penal de la Unidad de Delitos Económicos Complejos
Operations in Río Cuarto
With the complaint in process, prosecutor Ana Inés Salinas Odorisio coordinated a large-scale operation. Thus, five residences in Río Cuarto and several cells in Penitentiary Facility 6 were raided. There, cell phones, SIM cards, notebooks with numbers, and documents of interest were seized.
Two women were detained and will be transferred to Salta to testify at the corresponding indictment hearing. Meanwhile, five inmates from the prison were formally linked to the case as defendants. The investigation is ongoing.
Call analyses made it possible to locate the phones near the prison and detect external contacts. Meanwhile, the involvement of relatives and partners of inmates was confirmed. The money was moved between accounts of associates and dispersed in other operations, and the scheme included bank impersonation.
