Fake Doctor Scams: Arrests in Belgrade and Vranje
Two new arrests since September 24 follow the same scam pattern, a fake call about a family member's emergency surgery, then a demand for cash and gold, in Belgrade and Vranje.
Two separate arrests point to the same scam: a caller poses as a doctor or claims a close family member has been injured, then demands money and gold for a supposed emergency operation.
In Belgrade, officers from the Criminal Police Directorate’s Department for Combating Property Crime, working with the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, arrested D. N. (born 1966). Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported his age as 60, while the Interior Ministry (MUP) statement gave only his year of birth.
Investigators believe D. N., along with several still unidentified accomplices, called victims by phone twice during September, posed as a doctor, and claimed that a close relative urgently needed surgery. The victims handed over a total of 200,000 dinars, two gold watches, and eight gold ducats. D. N. faces two counts of fraud; he was held for up to 48 hours before being brought before the prosecutor’s office along with a criminal complaint.
In Vranje, acting on an order from the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Vranje, police arrested V. T. (46), a citizen of North Macedonia. He is suspected of going to the building where a 68 year old woman lives on September 15 and taking a large sum of cash and gold jewelry from her. Before that, a man police are still searching for had called the woman and told her that her daughter had been seriously injured abroad and urgently needed money for an operation. V. T. was also held for up to 48 hours before being brought before the prosecutor’s office with a criminal complaint.
The Vranje police department is urging residents, especially older citizens, to hang up immediately if they get a similar call, check the story with a family member, and report any suspected scam to the nearest police station or by calling 192.
This is not the first case of this kind of scam we have covered. We previously reported on a fake orthopedic surgeon who took 12,720 euros from two women in Belgrade using the same method, a call claiming that emergency surgery was needed. According to statements from the Interior Ministry and the prosecutor’s offices in Belgrade and Vranje, D. N. and V. T. are two separate and so far unrelated cases, but they show the same scenario is still circulating, carried out by different people in different cities.
