Six Charged Over Fast Loans Obtained Using Forged Data and Documents

The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje announced that it has filed charges against six people suspected of obtaining fast loans in the names of other individuals. According to the announcement, they forged data from the Employment Agency, while an employee of the Health Insurance Fund provided them with unique health identification numbers of insured persons.

The defendants are charged with document forgery, misuse of personal data and computer crime. At the same time, the competent court has been asked to issue criminal orders against a total of 33 people for the offence of computer fraud.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the defendants entered false information into the computer systems of several financial companies. In this way, false results were generated during the electronic processing and transfer of data from the Employment Agency.

In carrying out the scheme, they were assisted by one of those involved, who was employed at the Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Macedonia. He provided them with an EZBO number, which he had previously obtained through his computer from the Fund’s electronic system. They then used forged documentation and the personal data of the victims to take out fast loans in their names from financial companies.

“The aim of the defendants was for each of them to obtain unlawful financial gain. Four of them, through such actions between February 2023 and June 2024, obtained 2.5 million denars, while the others, during 2022 and 2023, obtained additional unlawful gains totalling 659,500 denars. For four people who were included in the investigative procedure, the public prosecutor issued a decision to discontinue the investigation; for two of them, no evidence was provided that they had participated in this fraudulent scheme, while two died in the meantime,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in its announcement.