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The Panevėžys Regional Court has issued a final appellate ruling in a "phone scamming" case. Although the court mitigated the legal classification of certain crimes, this did not affect the final sentence – the 3.5-year prison term handed to the primary instigator, Dovydas Maulius, remains unchanged.

The court established that while serving a prison sentence in Pravieniškės between September and October 2020, D. Maulius systematically carried out frauds using mobile phones. The crimes followed an identical scheme: the convict would call random individuals, posing as a police officer or a bank employee, and convince them that illegal operations were being conducted on their accounts. After tricking victims into revealing their electronic banking login details, he would promptly transfer funds to other accounts or organize their withdrawal through accomplices on the outside.

Upon reviewing the case, the Regional Court confirmed that D. Maulius is guilty of misappropriation of high-value property.

In one episode, he defrauded the head of a Vilnius-based company, misappropriating more than 32,000 EUR from the firm's account in a single day. In other instances, private individuals were targeted. In total, D. Maulius fraudulently acquired assets worth over 55,793 EUR, and attempted to seize an additional 31,298 EUR; however, these transactions were blocked in time by bank security systems or the victims themselves.

A total of seven individuals were convicted in this case. Although only D. Maulius filed an appeal, the court's decision to reclassify the activity from an "organized group" to a "group of accomplices" legally affected two other convicts. To ease their overall legal standing, the court slightly reduced their prison sentences. The other four convicted individuals did not appeal the verdict, and their original sentences remain in effect.

Despite the reclassification of some episodes, the final consolidated sentence for D. Maulius remains 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment.

The court noted that D. Maulius is a recidivist with more than 20 prior convictions, and he committed these new crimes while already serving a prison sentence. In addition to the prison terms, the convicts are ordered to provide full restitution for the financial damages caused to the victims and cover all legal costs.

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