A 24-year-old man has been remanded in custody for eight days in connection with a text message scam in which people across Cyprus were tricked into handing over their bank card details by messages posing as the General Health System (GHS) or a traffic fine payment service.
Larnaca Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the man, who is from a third country and lives in Nicosia, at Larnaca airport around midday on Monday, shortly before he was due to leave Cyprus. He had been placed on the stop list.
A ring whose members are foreign nationals has taken many thousands of euros from unsuspecting people across the island in recent weeks, sending text messages that appeared to come either from ‘CY MEDICAL’, asking recipients to update their details, or from ‘traffic CY’, asking them to pay out-of-court fines for traffic offences. It then used the bank details to make withdrawals from several branches of a bank in Nicosia. Three complaints have been made to Larnaca police so far, and two more have been recorded in Nicosia and Limassol.
The arrest followed two of those complaints. On 21 September, a 76-year-old man reported that he had opened a message appearing to come from ‘traffic CY’ and given his bank card number, among other details, after which 3,963 euros was taken in two ATM withdrawals in Nicosia.
On 2 October, a 68-year-old man said he had given his credit card number in reply to a ‘CY MEDICAL’ message and lost 770 euros. After the arrest, a third person reported that 2,390 euros had been withdrawn from their account after they gave their credit card number in reply to a ‘CY MEDICAL’ message.
Police were led to the suspect after a bank found that the complainants’ card details had been added to a digital wallet on a mobile phone allegedly linked to him. The withdrawals appear to have been made by another person, whom police are seeking.
When he was arrested, police found three mobile phones, expensive lighters and cigars bought from a shop in Nicosia in his possession, with a value of more than 50,000 euros.
There are indications that the cards used to buy the cigars were stolen, and police are investigating whether the purchase is linked to money laundering. In his statement, the suspect claimed he planned to send the cigars to Dubai to sell, as their value, he said, quadruples there.
Larnaca District Court ordered him held for eight days. He is suspected of offences including theft, unlawful access to information systems, unlawful interference with computer data, interception of data, conspiracy to commit a felony, laundering the proceeds of crime and unlawful processing of personal data.
Another suspect was arrested in Nicosia recently, and police are examining whether the two are linked.
