A defendant held in preventive custody was sentenced to five years and two months in prison for the crime of qualified fraud in co-authorship with two other defendants.
The other two were sentenced to three years and six months, and four years in prison, respectively, with both sentences suspended for five years, subject to probation and the obligation to make collective payments to the plaintiffs.
The three defendants were accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of criminal association but were acquitted of this charge.
Four other defendants were convicted for the crime of speculation, sentenced to eight months in prison, substituted by a fine of 2,400 euros, and an additional fine of 1,500 euros, totaling 3,900 euros each.
Two companies were also fined for speculation, each with a total penalty of five thousand euros.
For another company involved in the case, the court declared the criminal proceedings terminated.
The court ordered the joint payment of about 23,500 euros for patrimonial and, in some cases, non-patrimonial damages to several affected parties.
According to the MP’s indictment, the defendants, aged between 22 and 68, reside in Greater Lisbon, with attempted and completed frauds totaling 109,235.60 euros, affecting 41 people.
The document explained that this fraud involved contacting individuals via WhatsApp or SMS, impersonating a child and addressing the victim as ‘father’ or ‘mother’.
The fraudster requested a bank transfer (via IBAN or NIB) or payment (entity and reference for ATM) falsely claiming it was needed for an “important last-minute payment” or an “immediate and urgent expense”.
The MP argued that the three main defendants were part of a well-organized group engaged in widespread fraud, often referred to as “hello dad, hello mom” or “fake relative”, using it as a way of life and sharing the proceeds according to group hierarchy.
These three primary defendants were responsible for the “massive provision of SIM cards [for mobile phones] in ‘modems’, configured in applications accessible to other group members via the server, enabling the creation of WhatsApp accounts for use with potential victims”.
The detained individual was responsible for inserting SIM cards into ‘modems’, while the other two ordered and purchased the cards. The rest sold mobile phone SIM cards, aware they should not be sold.
Others provided “entities/references and bank accounts for victims to make payments”, allowing the paid amounts to flow through numerous financial circuits.
In announcing the verdict, the presiding judge stated that of the three primary defendants, “the only one making a living from this activity was the detained individual”, warning that “many ‘hello dads, hello moms’ schemes are proliferating, most using this modus operandi”.
“These situations are very serious, exploiting the good faith of people and their close relatives,” declared the judge, hoping that the defendants would somehow internalize their actions.
According to the judicial magistrate, among the victims, “there were doctors, university professors, people with above-average cultural levels, but when it comes to children, [the defendants] touched a very sensitive area”.
“I think, in terms of processes for this type of fraud, this is the first conviction, but there are many others out there,” the judge added.
