A Budapest man in his 30s with a criminal record had requested the transfer of a deposit or brokerage fee of between HUF 4,500 and HUF 20,000 from those who applied for advertisements published on websites and in online groups and forums of social networking sites in 2021-2022.
"The man had neither the opportunity nor the intention to fulfill the promises made in the ad; he only wanted to extort money from the victims," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Police officers in Kaposvár (185 km southwest of Budapest) took the man into custody in February 2023, and the court ordered his arrest; since then, he has been serving a prison sentence for another criminal case.
The prosecutor's office brought charges against him for 571 counts of fraud and motioned to impose a prison sentence to be executed, order the confiscation of assets and compensate victims for the damage, the statement reads.