The two operated fictitious profiles on social networks that pretended to be young - in order to deceive and make connections with others • "Performed according to meticulous criminal planning, in a systematic, sophisticated and cruel manner"
Hila Tal
The Southern District Attorney's Office filed an indictment in the Be'er Sheva District Court against Hila and Shlomo Tal, a couple in their 40s from Ashdod, for numerous aggravated fraud offenses and extortion on social media.
Their son, Shmuel, 20, is accused of involvement in extortion in one of the incidents.
According to the indictment, filed by Adv. Sheli Assaf of the Southern District Attorney's Office, Hila and her husband carried out the fraudulent incidents against many complainants with great sophistication, using fictitious Facebook profiles, and misrepresenting that they were a beautiful young girl, thus deceiving the complainants and reaching In addition, the defendants committed brutal extortion offenses against the complainants, all for the sake of greed. In their actions, the defendants fraudulently received sums of money totaling NIS 600,000.
The Tal couple have seven children in common, and as of 2019, both spouses have been in contact with each other and others, with the aim of deceiving the complainants with money fraudulently.
As part of the connection, they contacted the complainants through various Facebook profiles, talked to them and presented them with a false impression that this was a poor young woman who needed money.
The conversations were first conducted on Facebook, and later sometimes even moved to WhatsApp and voice conversations.
The various Facebook profiles were accompanied by photos of a good-looking young woman who were predicted to be the owner of the profile.
As part of the relationship, in some of the incidents, while the Tal couple impersonated the young woman, they misrepresented to the complainants that the young woman allegedly asked them to send her intimate photos of her, and she in turn would pass on their alleged photos.
In some incidents, when the complainants refused to continue to transfer the funds at the request of the "young woman", Hila and her husband, in response, threatened to harm and distribute the complainants' photos in order to motivate the complainants to transfer the funds.
As part of the relationship, the two defendants promised the complainants that after transferring the money, the young woman would meet with them and "pamper them".
Thus, the two fraudulently received about 600,000 shekels.
The funds were transferred by the complainants to the couple in a number of ways;
By way of "cash on time", by way of withdrawal at an ATM without a card by code, and by means of a taxi driver who would come to the complainant and collect the money or property, and / or through the defendant, their son Samuel, who met with the complainant and took the money.
The extortion affair of the men lasted about two years, and during that time they extorted many dozens of men, in some cases with the help of their children.
They are charged with 13 counts of aggravated assault.
In one case, during 2019, the complainant YS began to communicate through Facebook with a young woman named Rinat Tal, using a fictitious Facebook profile.
Hila and her husband Shlomo activated the profile together and kept in touch with the complainant.
As part of the connection, "Rinat" misrepresented that she is an orphaned young woman, 25 years old, specializes in medicine and works in a clothing store in Netivot.
As part of the false presentation, Rinat told the complainant that she had an inheritance and promised him that they would get married.
As part of the relationship, "Rinat" sent the complainant nude photos of her, and he also sent her nude photos of her at her request.
"Rinat" later asked the complainant for financial assistance on many occasions, each time with a different excuse, and the latter, due to false representations, transferred the money to Rinat and bought her cell phones.
The total expenses of the complainant for the assistance to "Rinat" amounted to NIS 152,000, through an application by the bank, via a code for withdrawing cash at an ATM without a card and / or through a taxi driver.
In addition, the complainant and a woman who pretended to be Rinat met at the beach in Ashkelon, but in this meeting did not match Rinat's character from the photos.
Later, despite Rinat's refusal to meet the complainant again, he continued to transfer money to her due to the false presentation she presented to him that she would return the money to him and that they would marry.
At one point, the complainant refused to transfer more money to Rinat at her request, and in response she told the complainant that she would stop being in contact with him - something that sowed fear in her that she would run away and he would lose all his money.
At one point, "Rinat" hung up, disappeared, hung up her cell phone and blocked the complainant.
The complainant following the relationship got into debt and today he is insolvent.
The indictment alleges that they are in great danger, that their actions were "carried out according to meticulous criminal planning, in a systematic, sophisticated and cruel manner, and which at the end of the day resulted in harm to many complainants."
The prosecution asked the court to detain the two defendants until the end of the legal proceedings against them.