The general secretary of the PIT-CNT, Elbia Pereiraexpanded a complaint this Saturday before the Computer Crimes of the Police, after strangers asked for money from their relatives, posing as her. Two people close to the leader were victims of the deception, and made transfers of US$2,000 and $40,000, respectively.
Pereira said to The Observer this Saturday that another close person had “fallen”, but with a different modality than the first. Now instead of offer dollars at a more tempting price than the market to changethey said –impersonating Pereira– that “I was in difficulty and I had to cancel something (referring to a debt) immediately”. For that, he or the scammers they provided bank accounts, which are new elements in the investigation. “These people give data,” said Pereira.
Screenshot
WhatsApp story made by Pereira on Friday, May 6, at 5:41 p.m.
They asked the second victim for $50,000 to settle an alleged debt, but he told them that he did not have it, and he still gave them $40,000, thinking it was Pereira.
Pereira’s lawyers presented this Saturday before Computer Crimes the new data. According to what the police officers transmitted to the complainant, the office has “more than 70 cases” of this style under investigation.
A mistake that helped
“I already sent you the money”, said a text message that Pereira received this Thursday at noon, from a friend of the family. By then, he had already transferred US$2,000 and they had asked him for US$1,000 more, but he didn’t have any. That same day, Pereira made the complaint in Computer Crimes.
At the same time, she received a call from one of her daughters-in-law, alerting her that she had received a WhatsApp message from someone who pretended to be her, saying that the number had to be changed and asking them to schedule the new one. The message was signed by Elvia Pereira. Her daughter-in-law knows her and she suspected that the person on the other side was not Pereira, because she would not write his name wrong, which goes with “b” and not with “v”.
On Friday the message that was sent changed: It came from another number, and with the name spelled correctly. Yes I signed “Elbia Pereira”.
The general secretary of the PIT-CNT – who was president of the Uruguayan Federation of Teachers (FUM-TEP) – took stock of what happened and extended the complaint to the Police. “At the time we didn’t know what the scope was,” she said Saturday.
Besides, from the PIT-CNT they informed the Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, about the case, who explained how to proceed and gave guidance about what to do in this case.
“My primary interest is that people do not trust. It’s not really me”, expressed the general secretary of the trade union center to The Observer. And he detailed: “It depends on the answer they have, it’s how they answer.”
“Good afternoon, greetings (emoticon) schedule my new number, I’m Elbia Pereira Lucas (four emoticons)” is one of the messages sent. “The corresponding complaint is already filed. It’s not me !!!!! ”, Pereira wrote on his Facebook account this Friday, informing his friends. In a similar tone, she reproduced it for his contacts on WhatsApp.
Screenshot
Posting on Facebook from Pereira, on Friday, May 6
He or the scammers accessed your WhatsApp contacts through Instagram. Pereira no longer has access to his account on that social network, and has not recovered it.
