Two fraud cases before the Court of Appeals of the Dodecanese — €12,600 and fraudulent car sale
Two cases of online and telephone fraud are being referred to the Three-Member Court of Appeals of the Dodecanese for trial at second instance on 24 September 2026.
Fraud of €12,600 and fraudulent car advertisement before the Court of Appeals of the Dodecanese
Two separate fraud cases that had been tried at first instance by the Single-Member Court of Misdemeanours in Rhodes are being referred to the Three-Member Court of Appeals of the Dodecanese, which will examine them at the hearing scheduled for 24 September 2026, according to Dikastiko.gr. The first concerns an attempted electronic transfer of €12,600 that failed thanks to the timely response of the victim; the second concerns the sale of a car that never took place, resulting in damages of €1,000 to a woman. Both defendants had been tried in absentia at first instance, with prison sentences of 6 and 10 months respectively.
Attempted withdrawal of €12,600 via the internet
The first case dates back to 9 July 2021. The main figure is a 42-year-old foreign national of Nigerian origin who was living in a city in northern Greece. According to the indictment, the man unlawfully utilised software intended for interbank money transfer — the exact nature of which is not clarified in the available court documents, as it is characterised as unknown.
The defendant is alleged to have attempted to carry out two transfers from the victim's bank account at a Greek bank: one for €3,300 and one for €9,300, with a total target of €12,600, to an account he maintained at a different credit institution. According to the accusation, he had no lawful right or claim to these particular funds.
The attempted transfer was not completed. As emerges from the first-instance decision, the failure was not due to withdrawal by the defendant, but to the immediate response of the victim, who detected the transaction and cancelled the transfers before they could be executed. This fact determined the legal classification of the act as an attempt, and not as a completed offence.
The case was tried in Rhodes on 17 March 2023. The defendant did not appear at the hearing. The court, after publicly reading the evidence of service of the summons — which had been served by posting at his residence in November 2022 — tried him in absentia as if he were present. The court found him guilty of attempted fraud by computer and imposed a sentence of six months' imprisonment.
Car sale advertisement that did not exist — damages of €1,000
The second case is chronologically older and concerns a 27-year-old Greek man, a resident of a city in the Peloponnese. The events took place on 10 September 2019, when the victim published an advertisement on a well-known online classified platform for the sale of her private passenger car.
According to information reported by the newspaper "Dimokratiki", the defendant contacted the woman and presented, ostensibly as was later determined, that he operated a car dealership and was interested in vehicle exchange. Within the framework of this fictitious agreement, he asked her to pay the difference in value between the two vehicles, setting it at €1,000. The victim, persuaded by his words, sent the amount by postal order.
The exchange vehicle never arrived, nor was the money returned. According to the indictment, the defendant had from the outset no intention of sending any vehicle, with the result that he unlawfully obtained €1,000 to the detriment of the woman's property.
The case was tried in Rhodes on 28 February 2024, with the defendant again tried in absentia as if he were present. The court found him guilty of fraud, determining that with the intent of unlawful financial gain he persuaded the victim to act on false facts as if they were true. The chair's assistant prosecutor proposed a sentence of ten months' imprisonment, which the court imposed.
Second instance on 24 September 2026
Both convictions were handed down in absentia and now bring the cases before the Three-Member Court of Appeals of the Dodecanese. The hearing has been scheduled for 24 September 2026, when the court of second instance will be called upon to re-examine both cases.
Source: Dikastiko.gr