In the past few years, the police in Foča have established that whistleblowers of allegedly correct sports results have damaged bookmakers for more than 11 million marks (about 5,6 million euros), which is why many of the suspects were prosecuted and final verdicts were passed, but the court of none of he did not send the fraudsters to prison.
"Nezavisne novine" conducted a detailed investigation on the so-called betting mafia, whose members are falling almost month after month, so one gets the impression that such frauds are finally coming to an end, but the reality is completely different, and the number of deceived, gullible players is increasing. .
Namely, since April 2017, there has been an increase in the number of such cases, which are qualified as money laundering and fraud, and the Foča Police Department has revealed the way in which it is done.
"Suspects create profiles on social networks, through which they advertise fake, i.e. falsified, 'winning' betting tickets, bank slips and bills of already achieved winnings, with which they prove the possession of information about so-called fixed sports events and earned profits. In this way, they attract the attention of persons , then enter into communication and continue to mislead them, demanding that they pay money for information - tip-off about the outcome of the next allegedly 'fixed' sports events," the Foča police told "Nezavisne novine".
Judging by police information, in addition to fraudsters, their accomplices, who also make money, are included in the complete "game".
"Most often, the money was paid in the name of other persons who withdrew the money, knowing that it originated from criminal acts, and kept 10 to 20 percent of the withdrawn amount for themselves, while the rest was given to the person who hired them, or more precisely, committed the criminal offense described way. This phenomenon has an international character, which gave it additional weight, because the injured persons are from different countries of the world, and reports were most often received through Interpol," the Foča police told "Nezavisne novine".
As they added, from 2017 to July of this year, 476 criminal acts were recorded, and as many as 223 reports were filed against 285 persons, of which 60 were returnees.
"The acquired illegal property benefit of the suspects is more than 11.100.000 convertible marks. It is particularly worrying that minors appear as the perpetrators of these crimes, considering it to be one of the easiest and fastest ways to acquire money," said the Foča police.
The police found that hundreds of players from numerous countries, including Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Poland, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Canada and others, were damaged in this way.
In addition to the police, the judiciary has its hands full due to fraudsters, so the District Public Prosecutor's Office of Trebinje has so far brought indictments against a total of 231 people who are suspected of money laundering, and by which final convictions have been pronounced in court proceedings.
"All persons were sentenced to fines and a security measure of confiscation of illegally acquired property benefits was imposed on them. So far, no person has been sentenced to prison for the aforementioned criminal offense," Srđan Vukanović, information officer of the District Public Administration, told "Nezavisne novine" Trebinje Prosecutor's Office.
"Nezavisne novine" learned that the fraudsters were sentenced to forfeit more than 2,9 million euros (5,7 million marks).
Even the prosecutor's office admits that there are problems in the prosecution.
"The basic problem in the prosecution of these criminal acts is the fact that the largest number of injured persons are from other countries, both in the region and in Europe, and even in the whole world, and communication with these persons takes place through international legal aid, which significantly complicates communication and complicates "Also, a big problem is the fact that in most cases the perpetrators contacted the victims via social networks from fake profiles, which significantly complicates the identification of the perpetrators," the prosecution told Nezavisne Novine.
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