An undercover investigation conducted by investigators from the Youth Disclosure Division of the Central Unit in the Jerusalem District in recent weeks on suspicion of crimes of threats, fraud, and extortion of a resident of the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, a young Haredi man in his 20s, led to the arrest of three suspects, including two Jerusalem residents aged 16-17.
An indictment is expected against them today.
The police investigation revealed that a mutual acquaintance introduced the ultra-Orthodox victim to one of the people involved - a 17-year-old suspect, who falsely represented himself to the victim as a businessman whose main occupation was real estate, and under this pretext caused the victim to transfer a large sum of money to him for the purchase of property in Greece.
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Later, the young man felt that he had fallen victim to blackmail and fraud, as he continued to receive threats from the suspects with the aim of getting him to transfer an additional amount of money, and if he did not do so, they would send criminals to him.
To further the misrepresentation and leverage the pressure the suspect was trying to create against him, another suspect - a 16-year-old boy - was added to the criminal circle. During phone calls with the victim, the young man was presented as a criminal from a crime family, and changed his voice to appear to be speaking Arabic, with the support of the other suspect during the call.
The two suspects continued to extort more money from the helpless victim through threats. According to the suspicion, the suspects pocketed a sum of over 100,000 NIS.
As part of their blackmail, the suspects took the victim to a car rental branch, where they rented a car at his expense.
In addition, one of the suspects stole the victim's cell phone, and in order to disrupt the evidence, he deleted the correspondence between them, and threatened the victim that if he did not hand over an additional amount of money, he would pass on his personal information, which included, among other things, his place of study, his address, and more, to criminal elements.
During the Haredi victim's conversations with the suspects, one of the suspects whispered in his ear that using these details, the other suspect would easily succeed in obtaining tens of thousands of shekels in exchange for them, or even more.
After the central unit in the Jerusalem district came into the picture, the storm of blackmail and threats came to an end.
On July 14, the victim arrived at a meeting place in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, which had been arranged between him and one of the suspects. After a conversation between the two, with Jerusalem Police Department detectives supervising the meeting, the victim handed the suspect 2,000 NIS.
As soon as the suspect put the money bills into his pants pocket, Jerusalem Police Detectives arrested him. A few hours later, the two other suspects involved in the extortion cases were also arrested for questioning.
The suspects' detention was extended at the request of the Jerusalem Police Department investigators from time to time in the court in order to complete the necessary investigative activities.
In recent days, a prosecutor's statement was submitted regarding the intention to file an indictment against two of those involved, and their detention was extended in court until July 30. Today, as stated, the indictment against them is expected by the prosecutor's office.
