In the period from January to March of this year, at the level of Dâmbovița county, reported criminality registered an increase of 3.9%, compared to the same period of last year, in this sense specific measures were ordered to combat criminal acts by ensuring an active presence of the police in the segment street, but also by organizing specific activities for the safety of the community.
The weight of these crimes is represented by the acts of a judicial nature, which represent 70% of all notifications, with 2.1% more acts being recorded compared to the first three months of 2023.
Regarding reported street crimes, 51% of them were committed in urban areas and 49% in rural areas. We emphasize that within this category, in the first three months of this year, there is a decrease of 8.5%, compared to the similar period in 2023.
Analyzing and constantly following the evolution of the operational situation, the need to prevent and combat criminal and contraventional acts, the creation and maintenance of a climate of order and public safety within the county, in the first three months of this year, 871 large-scale actions were carried out/ with increased numbers, of which 132 were on the road police line, 586 on the public order line, 57 in the field of criminal investigations and 30 in the economic field.
For deviations from contraventional rules, during the reference period, the police from Dâmbovița applied 27,677 contraventional sanctions, of which 4,703 were for non-compliance with the provisions of Law 61/1991, 109 for violating the provisions of GEO no. 34/2008 regarding the organization and operation of the Single National System for Emergency Calls, 36 for the violations established by Law no. 38/2003 regarding transport by taxi and rental and 72 in the field of forestry, according to the provisions of Law no. 171/2010.
The most sanctions, respectively 19,238, were applied to drivers for the offenses committed.
Thus, over 4,800 drivers were fined for not complying with the legal speed limit and over 4,400 drivers or passengers for not wearing a seat belt by.
A further 401 fines were imposed for illegal use of the phone while traveling on public roads, 195 for illegal overtaking, 478 for illegal stopping, standing or parking, 306 for violating the rules when turning, reversing, changing lanes, changing the direction of travel , 540 for not using the road lights during the day when traveling on a public road and 251 for driving a vehicle that has major deficiencies or whose periodic technical inspection validity period has expired.
246 contraventional sanctions were applied for not giving way to pedestrians and vehicles, and 93 fines for driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages.
Pedestrian indiscipline was also sanctioned by the police, with 747 contraventional sanctions applied on this line. Regarding cyclists’ violations, 1,276 sanctions were applied, and 310 sanctions were applied to drivers of animal-drawn vehicles.
Since one of the main objectives of the institution is to reduce the number of road accidents and the number of victims, measures were implemented at the level of the Inspectorate aimed at preventing and combating the main causes of accidents, mainly by detecting and sanctioning drivers who consume alcohol or psychoactive substances at the wheel, those who drive at excessive speed or by sanctioning the indiscipline of pedestrians/cyclists or those who do not give way.
Thus, following the activities carried out to increase the level of safety on public roads, traffic police found 143 offenses against traffic safety on public roads, of which 33 were for driving a vehicle under the influence of psychoactive substances, 45 for driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and 28 for driving a vehicle without a driver’s license.
Also, due to the active presence and actions carried out by the police on public roads, at the level of Dâmbovița county, the amount of serious road accidents recorded in the first quarter is below the average of the last 4 years.
Thus, in the first three months of 2024, there is a 5.88% decrease in the number of serious accidents and a 5.12% increase in the number of minor road accidents, compared to the analyzed period.
From the statistical situation, it emerged that, at the county level, the five main causes of road accidents are the violations of pedestrians and cyclists, speed, not giving priority to pedestrians and not giving priority to vehicles.
In 2024, the main objectives of the institution are to increase the degree of public safety, citizen protection, street and road safety, school safety, streamlining the activity of preventing and combating crimes against property and the person, respectively those associated with domestic violence and aggression sexual nature, streamlining the activities of countering crimes against the environment, ensuring the climate of legality in the business environment, by combating tax evasion, smuggling, corruption, counterfeiting of goods, crimes in the field of public procurement, as well as the protection of the financial interests of the European Union and combating all forms of organized crime, in particular human trafficking (including migrants), drug trafficking, cybercrime and money laundering.
In order to achieve these objectives, the police officers of the Dâmbovița County Police Inspectorate will continue to carry out their activities, in cooperation with the law enforcement structures at the county level, in order to ensure a proper management of the operative situation.
II. The evolution of computer crimes in the first three months of this year and the measures citizens can take to prevent victimization by such acts
Between January and March of this year, at the level of the Dâmbovița County Police Inspectorate, twice as many frauds committed through computer systems and electronic means of payment were reported, i.e. 26 more crimes compared to the similar period of the previous year .
Regarding crimes against the safety and integrity of IT systems and data, in the first three months of this year, 5 more facts were reported compared to the first quarter of 2023.
Thus, in this period when technology offers countless opportunities, but also brings new and complex challenges, namely cyber threats, we want to draw the attention of citizens to the dangerous phenomenon of online investments that has become more and more frequent.
General characteristics identified regarding this phenomenon are the promise of get-rich-quick, the ease with which sums of money are given up (victims are persuaded to transfer, sometimes very large, sums of money/cryptocurrency by unknown entities/persons, both in early phase as well as later), relinquishment of control (injured people give up easily, due to the desire to get rich and lack of technical knowledge, and relinquish control of electronic devices), high level of technical resources for attackers (attackers usually prove increased abilities to use available technical resources: multiple phone numbers, falsifying the identity of the caller, fake platforms hosted outside Europe, anonymization of crypto-currency transactions), pressure on investors (often, fraud promoters can use aggressive “advertising” tactics ” of “investments”, to get users to act quickly, such as deadlines or exclusive opportunities that “disappear fast”).
From the notifications received, it was found that most of the time the injured persons would have accessed posts on various social networks that contained advertisements regarding financial investment services, and then provided contact information on the forms provided in those advertisements .
They were then allegedly contacted by phone by unknown persons who, after repeated discussions, usually manage to convince the victims to sign up on various online investment platforms.
The investments are quite small at the beginning, of the order of a few hundred euros. The investment consists in the purchase of cryptocurrencies and their transfer to the electronic wallets indicated by the authors.
Those amounts then appear in the victim’s account opened on those investment platforms.
In many situations, under the pretext of providing technical support, the attackers convince the injured persons to install remote control applications on their used electronic devices (phone, tablet, laptop, etc.).
Thus, without realizing the effect of their action, users give attackers access to all personal and banking data accessible through devices.
Injured persons are convinced to send more sums of money (cryptocurrency) because the appearance is created that the investments are profitable, thus reaching even amounts of tens of thousands of euros “invested” in such fraudulent schemes.
When trying to withdraw the sums of money, a series of pretexts and scenarios are invented by which the authors try to convince the victims that, in order to benefit from that profit, they have to transfer more sums of money, under pretexts such as: withdrawal, transfer guarantees, fines, etc.
In parallel, data accessible through compromised devices is exploited in various ways, such as opening accounts on various cryptocurrency trading platforms, fraudulent bank transfers, money laundering, etc.
One of the frequently encountered fraud methods in the situation where users give attackers access to their own devices and bank data is to take out online loans in the name of injured persons and embezzle money.
Other ways of misleading potential investors can be represented by the promotion of ads, generally on social networks, in which images of well-known companies listed on the stock exchange are used, with the promise of very large immediate earnings by “buying shares ” which will “generate dividends” of tens of thousands of lei “directly on the card” of the users.
In such cases, attackers use malicious links, with the help of which they try to obtain personal and financial data from users.
Also, recently, another method of fraudulent investment has been identified, namely the criminal activity begins with users receiving unsolicited messages, formulated in English or Romanian, which urge them to like certain posts on social networks, in particular clips from specialized platforms, promising them this activity as a second job or passive income.
To create an illusion of legitimacy, the authors send small amounts of money to the accounts of users who appreciate the posts, these being between 10 and 50 lei.
In the next stage, potential victims are encouraged to invest larger amounts on platforms that promise substantial earnings. These promises are reinforced by invitations to join discussion groups on an online messaging platform where supposed investment “experts” will guide them to higher returns. However, these “specialists” are actually the perpetrators who use manipulation techniques to extract sensitive data and large sums of money from the injured parties.
Dâmbovița County Police Inspectorate
Tags: Evaluation activities carried months
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