A 60 year-old man from Nicosia is detained in custody after a Paphos District Court decision on suspicion of stealing €117,000 from a woman from Paphos.
The 63 year-old woman, who works as a teacher, reported to the police last July that a man who she met on Facebook two years ago, took €117,000 from her.
The man told her that he is a British UN doctor, serving in Syria and manage to convince her to give him the money, after using various excuses.
According to the woman, they were discussing to marry.
The 63 year-old teacher sent the money to three bank accounts.
In her testimony, she mentioned that due to the situation in Syria, the man told her that he was afraid for his life and that he would soon send a big amount of money to Cyprus through a friend.
After some time, the woman received a call from a man who told her that he was at Ercan airport in the Turkish-occupied north but the authorities would not let him cross unless he paid €57,000.
The woman then talked with the suspect who instructed her to send the money.
Some days later, she received another call from the man who told her to send €60,000, which she did.
As she told the police, after she started demanding explanations, the suspect threatened her.
Paphos Crime Prevention Unit managed to find the three accounts where the money was sent.
The owners are the 60 year-old man from Nicosia and two women, one from Nicosia and one from Larnaca. The women are wanted by the police.
The suspect admitted that he received money from the victim but he told the police that they were not meant for him. As he said, an acquaintance of his, asked for his account number so that the woman could send the money. He said that he knows only the first name of this acquaintance.
The man is detained on charges of conspiracy, theft after lying and threat to use violence.
