Bulgarian and Romanian authorities have returned €13,907.13 to an 81-year-old woman who was cheated in a phone scam, the Bulgarian interior ministry said on Facebook.

The investigation was led by the National Police directorate, the interior ministry's regional directorates in Dobrich and Veliko Tarnovo, and the prosecutors' offices in Dobrich and Bucharest.

The scam took place on 8 December 2025. The woman trusted a stranger posing as a police officer. She thought she was helping to catch phone fraudsters and handed over all her savings.

The scammers used several people as "mules", who were also fooled. They thought they were carrying documents, not money from a crime.

Since Bulgaria and Romania began working together, they have stopped more than 50 phone scams and detained six people. Victims have been given back more than €70,000 and €74,137 (145,000 leva. About €74,137).

The interior ministry calls on people to stay alert. Scammers often pose as police officers, doctors, lawyers or other officials. They invent stories to win trust and get hold of savings. People should not give money to strangers who tell them to do so over the phone. If in doubt, they should hang up and report it to 112.

In another case, the Organised Crime directorate said in June that two people were detained in Bulgaria in an operation by Bulgarian and Romanian authorities against a network that cloned fuel cards. The operation took place on 18 June.