In the Kostanay region, bank employees and police prevented the transfer of 1.9 million tenge to a foreign account. An elderly man was about to send the money after seeing a TikTok ad for a car at a 30% discount, the regional police department reported. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Bank employees suspected the client might become a victim of scammers and contacted the police. Law enforcement officers who arrived stopped the transfer and escorted the man to the police department, where they held an explanatory conversation with him.
It turned out that after viewing the ad, the man contacted unknown individuals. Further communication took place via WhatsApp: the interlocutors gave him instructions and persuaded him to transfer the money as soon as possible.
When the man said he was at the police station, they began actively writing to him and demanding that he leave immediately to complete the transfer. According to the department, the interlocutors also tried to intimidate him, claiming that the car was allegedly already at customs and that a delay in payment would lead to problems.
The transfer did not go through, and 1.9 million tenge was saved.
Police urged people not to trust ads for goods and cars with suspiciously large discounts, not to follow instructions from unknown individuals, and not to send money to unfamiliar accounts. If in doubt, one should stop communication and contact the police at 102.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that a suspect in fraud worth more than 106 million tenge was extradited from Russia to Kazakhstan. According to the investigation, in 2021-2022 he took possession of the money of three people, promising to purchase and deliver cars from abroad. The suspect was placed in a pre-trial detention center.