Police nail Hungarian fraudster preying on artists and scientists

Police have captured a 42-year-old Budapest man who together with several associates duped several artists and scientists into giving him an estimated total of Ft 50 million by telling them that they were to be presented with a lifetime achievement award.

Police caught the con artist in the Second District on Thursday after he accepted cash from actor Sándor Horváth.

Budapest Police chief Gábor Tóth told reporters that the fraudster had told elderly artists and scientists that the government or a European organisation intended to honour them with a lifetime achievement award, but that the accompanying prize money, which was described as higher than €20,000, could only be transferred if they had a foreign currency bank account.

Some victims transferred as much as Ft 14 million, others only Ft 2.5 million. Only the $10,000 taken from Horváth was recovered. Geneticist Endre Czeizel and actress Katalin Berek, among others, fell for the scam.

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