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The Panevėžys Regional Court has upheld a verdict finding Kaunas district resident Valdas Jankauskas guilty of four criminal acts: fraud, illegal access to an information system, illegal possession of someone else's electronic card, and its use for financial operations. After examining the convict's appeal, the regional court stated that the one-year prison sentence imposed by the court of first instance is fair and proportionate to the crimes committed.

According to the case file, V. Jankauskas acted with a group of accomplices using a classic telephone fraud scheme. At the end of August 2023, an individual unidentified during the pre-trial investigation called a 72-year-old resident of Biržai and, identifying himself as a police officer, convinced the woman that the money in her account was counterfeit. He also falsely informed the resident that one thousand euros had allegedly been stolen from her account and persuaded her to place her bank card in an envelope, write down the PIN code, and hand it over to a "police representative" who would arrive.

After receiving the card, V. Jankauskas and his accomplices withdrew 3,270 euros in Radviliškis, Kaunas, and Kelmė over several days. In addition to misappropriating cash, the convict used the victim's funds to purchase gold chains and pendants worth more than 1,100 euros at a jewelry store in Kaunas. In total, the woman suffered a property loss of 4,397 euros.

While the verdict for three accomplices acting with V. Jankauskas was announced back in December 2024, V. Jankauskas evaded justice by fleeing abroad. However, under a European Arrest Warrant, he was detained in the Federal Republic of Germany on March 1, 2025, and subsequently extradited to Lithuania.

In his appeal to the regional court, V. Jankauskas requested a mitigation of the prison sentence imposed on him; however, the regional court ruled that both the sentences for individual criminal acts and the final consolidated sentence comply with legal requirements, leaving no grounds for reduction.

"The case contains no data or circumstances which the court of first instance, when sentencing V. Jankauskas for the criminal acts and determining the extent of the punishment, failed to examine or incorrectly applied the provisions of criminal law," noted the judicial panel.

The court also drew attention to the dangerousness of the convict's character – although his previous convictions in Lithuania have formally expired, it was established that between 2017 and 2024, the man was convicted 9 times in Germany, receiving a prison sentence on every occasion.

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