A 77-year-old woman from Košice became a victim of a scammer who pretended to be a priest. He gained the trust of her family and tricked them into giving him all their savings meant for her son with a disability. The total amount of damage is at least €23,700. The police are investigating the case, but no one has been charged yet.
This story is a worrying reminder of how creative scammers can be, especially when their victims are lonely elderly people.
From Blessing an Apartment to a Personal Assistant
According to the victim, Mrs. Helena, it all started when she asked a neighbor, whom she thought was a priest, to bless her apartment. The man lived in the same building, just a few entrances away, and gradually became a close person to the family. He visited them regularly and later offered to help care for her son with a disability, and eventually officially became his personal assistant.
Having gained her full trust, the man asked the pensioner to lend him money for a car. Not suspecting anything wrong, she withdrew €20,000 from her son's building savings and gave it to him. Later, he asked for another €3,700 for wheels and accessories.
"Then I went to the bank and gave him the money. If I could turn back time, I would never trust anyone like that again," the woman told Korzár, which first reported the incident, with tears in her eyes. Korzár.
How the Scam Was Discovered
After receiving the money, the man continued to work as an assistant, and Mrs. Helena had no reason to worry. However, later, notifications about suspicious transactions on her son's account started coming from the bank.
After checking the transactions, she discovered that money was disappearing from the account without her knowledge. Since the scammer had access to her son's mobile phone, the pensioner suspects he might have confirmed transfers via mobile banking and then deleted the SMS messages about them.
The woman cannot yet state the exact amount of damage, besides the money for the car, but she fears it could be much higher.
Police Are Investigating
The Košice police confirmed that they received a criminal complaint on suspicion of fraud. "No specific person has been charged yet," said regional police spokeswoman Lenka Ivanová. Law enforcement officers are not commenting on whether the suspect was actually a priest, citing the secrecy of the investigation.
This case is just one of many. According to the police, in the first three months of 2026 alone, 44 cases of phone scams targeting pensioners were recorded in Slovakia, with a total damage of €734,000. Scammers often pose as relatives, doctors, or police officers, using psychological pressure to force victims to act impulsively.
