In the Almaty region, a man nearly took out loans totaling more than 13 million tenge after communicating with online scammers. The fraudsters convinced him so thoroughly that they made him hide from his family and stop answering calls, reports infohub.kz.
According to the regional police department, the man, following the scammers' instructions, stopped communicating with relatives and attempted to take out loans in several banks at once. Meanwhile, a special system for detecting fraudulent calls flagged suspicious activity.
Police quickly found his wife and children and informed them of the situation. The relatives immediately contacted the banks, which helped stop the loan disbursements.
The man himself was found by police on the premises of an industrial base. However, even after meeting them, he continued to believe the strangers and would not listen to either the police officers or his own son.
Only when they explained that he had nearly handed over more than 13 million tenge to scammers did the man realize he had been deceived.
"In just one day, 13 similar cases were prevented in the Almaty region. Over the past three years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has prevented 1,152 cases of online fraud nationwide, totaling over 1.5 billion tenge. Additionally, scammers were prevented from transferring 2.7 billion tenge abroad, and victims were returned more than 5.6 billion tenge," the department reported.
Police advise immediately ending the conversation if strangers demand that you hide communication from loved ones, take out loans, transfer money, or install unknown applications. In such situations, it is better to call the bank or police yourself.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that scammers are increasingly using modern technology and AI to steal money from Kazakhstani citizens.