PJ Dismantla Burlas Network “Hello father, hello mother” and fraudulent job offers

The Judicial Police (PJ) announced Friday that they dismantled a network of “Hello father, hello mother” and fraudulent job offers. The network may have made thousands of victims.

In a statement, the PJ announced that, through the Leiria Criminal Investigation Department, it dismantled a criminal organization that was repeatedly dedicated to the commission of slops, commonly known as « Hello Father, Hello Mother » and ‘Job Scam’.

The suspects « lived in a disinaled and exclusively of this illicit activity. »

According to the statement, « in the search for the residence and company of the suspects, located in the area of ​​Lisbon, were seized six (devices) SMS Gateways, which simultaneously operated with 224 SIM (mobile) cards, computer equipment, mobile phones and about 13 thousand SIM cards, from several national and European operators, used to practice the burses with the resource of computer technology. »

According to the PJ, the appointed appliances « allowed to send messages in a massive way and will have injured an undetermined number of victims, presumably in the order of the thousands. »

« Two defendants were constituted, a 21-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, being the third suspect in part uncertain, » he said.

The investigation began in 2024 and at stake are crimes of qualified slopping, criminal association and bleaching. The suspects are foreigners and “there will be family connections between the three”,

At this stage of the investigation, it is not yet possible to scale the number of attempted and consummated scams.

The PJ asks victims that, in case of sloping, “retain maximum information”, as the tendency is to erase or block the information that reaches the mobile phone.

Specifically in the case of “Hello father, hello” or false family, the PJ recommends that the veracity of the author of the money request is confirmed, as the frequency of this phenomenon should lead to doubt the requests.

As for job offers, “at first times, people effectively receive low amounts, which will stimulate the continuity of messages”, being led to invest more “to open a customer portfolio or perform tasks”, leading them out of money.