PDI detains woman accused of 40 cases of telephone fraud

SANTIAGO.- Officials from the Economic Crime Investigative Brigade (Bridec) of the PDI detained 20 year-old María Espinoza Zambrano, accused of committing at least 40 telephone fraud crimes in the past two months.

According to the commissioner of this law enforcement unit, Daniel Cansino, the woman carried out the scams in partnership with her spouse, a prisoner at the Puente Alto penal institution, who would select the victims, none of whom were from Santiago.

Once they contacted the victims, they would lie to them, claiming that a family member was in trouble and needed financial help.

According to Cansino, the amounts fraudulently obtained from each victim ranged from 150 to 350 thousand pesos, which were deposited or sent to Santiago through commercial money-transfer companies or via mail.

The money would then be cashed or retrieved by Espinoza, who was arrested yesterday at 5:00 PM after a money transfer business notified law enforcement, alleging that there was something suspicious about the woman.

After being apprehended in Maipu, the woman confessed to her participation in nearly 40 similar crimes.