Vranje prosecutors warn of fake doctor scam on pensioners
The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Vranje says an organised group is phoning elderly citizens. Ten people have lost money, eighteen attempts recorded, three suspects held.
- The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Vranje issued a public warning on July 28, together with the Interior Ministry.
- Investigators have recorded ten victims and eighteen attempted frauds, with similar cases reported in Leskovac and Nis.
- Three suspects have been detained for up to 48 hours and reported to prosecutors, while two more are being sought.
- Prosecutors are urging citizens to report suspicious calls to the police on 192 straight away.
The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Vranje warned residents on July 28 that an organised group of foreign nationals is working across southern Serbia, calling elderly people by phone and talking them out of cash and valuables. The statement was issued together with the Interior Ministry, and the reason for its unusually sharp tone is the arithmetic: ten citizens have already lost money and eighteen further attempts have been recorded.
What the public saw this week was the arrest of a single man in Vranje. The prosecutors’ statement makes clear this is not the work of one person. Three suspects have been deprived of liberty and held for up to 48 hours, with a criminal complaint filed against them, and two more are being sought. None of them has been found guilty in a final judgment.
The office also says the calls are not confined to the Pcinja district. Reports have come in from Leskovac and from Nis as well, which suggests the group moves between towns and targets the same profile of victim in each of them.
What the call to an elderly household sounds like
The method investigators have confirmed is simple, and that is exactly why it works. The suspects ring landlines and present themselves as police officers or as doctors. They then deliver the one piece of news guaranteed to knock an older person off balance: that a close relative, a son, a daughter or a grandchild, has been in a serious traffic accident.
After that everything moves fast. The caller demands the urgent handover of large sums of money and valuables, supposedly to cover treatment costs or to settle a problem with the police. Some members of the group do not stop at the phone call and turn up at the home address to collect. By then, a person who heard five minutes earlier that a grandchild was injured is not thinking about verification, only about helping.
That is the whole point of the scheme. It does not target gullibility, it targets fear. Which is why the list of victims includes people who have been careful with money their entire lives.
Why are prosecutors telling you to call your older relatives today?
Because with this kind of call, the only reliable filter is knowing in advance that it may come. Once an elderly person knows that police officers and hospitals never ask for money over the phone, the first reflex stops being panic and becomes suspicion.
The advice in the statement is short. End the call, ring a family member on a number you already know, and check whether there was any accident at all. Never hand cash, jewellery or valuables to someone who shows up at the door. Report the call to the nearest police station or to 192.
It is worth repeating the part that looks obvious and keeps failing in practice. No institution in Serbia collects medical fees through a courier ringing a doorbell. No police officer asks for cash by telephone.
The investigation is continuing, and prosecutors expect the number of reported cases to rise once the warning circulates. Eighteen attempts means at least eighteen people have already taken this call, and at least ten of them handed over money.
Have you talked to your parents or grandparents about what to do if someone rings and says their grandchild is in hospital?
