Paphos police are investigating a complaint by a woman that she was scammed out of €117,000 by a person she met on social media.
The 63 year old told police that she had met a man on a social media platform two years ago who told he was a doctor working with the UN in Syria.
In February 2018, he said that because of the situation in Syria and because he feared for his life, a person would bring over his salaries to be deposited in a Cyprus bank and in the event something happened to him she was to send it to his children in England.
In April, she received a call from an unknown person who said he was coming to Cyprus to deliver the money to deposit. But a few days later, he called again to say he was at the airport in the Turkish occupied north and was not allowed to leave unless he paid €57,000 and asked her to send him the money to an account.
She contacted her friend who assured her that the second person would return the money so she transferred the money. Over the next few days, under different pretexts the man was able to persuade the woman to send him an additional €60,000.
When the woman realised she had been scammed she lodged a complaint with police.
