The Montana Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against a man for a series of financial frauds and unauthorized use of other people's bank cards, the state prosecution reported. The defendant is well known to the judiciary, and to date he has 19 convictions for serious intentional crimes that have entered into force.
The criminal activity began in October 2022, when a person called a phone number from an online ad for a loan. When applying, he listed his sister as a guarantor. The woman was subsequently contacted by the defendant himself, who introduced himself as an employee of a payday loan company.
The man managed to convince her to provide him with her personal data, a photo of her ID card, a payslip for her last salary, and to register for the issuance of a qualified electronic signature. According to the prosecution, using this information and creating additional computer data, the fraudster submitted 13 applications for loans to various financial institutions on behalf of the victim.
The defendant contacted another woman using a similar scheme. After gaining access to her data and instructing her on how to issue a qualified electronic signature, he concluded six more loan agreements on her behalf. The funds received by bank transfer were immediately transferred to other bank accounts.
According to the prosecution, in addition to credit fraud, the man carried out unauthorized transactions and used other people's bank cards without the knowledge of their owners. Three such cards were used to make 73 financial transactions, including payments at retail outlets, online purchases and cash withdrawals from ATMs. The total value of these transactions amounted to 4,815.78 euros.
With his actions, the repeat offender caused material damage to various quick loan companies in the total amount of 35,019.31 euros. In the course of the investigation, forensic economic and video-technical expertise were prepared. The magistrates are about to schedule a hearing on the case.