The phone rings. On the line is a „doctor“ with urgent news: your daughter has had an accident abroad, she is badly hurt, the surgery costs - the money is needed at once, now. An older woman in a panic does not think twice. And so, two pensioners in Vranje and Leskovac were left without thousands of euros, dinars and gold. And behind the scam - two Macedonian nationals, now arrested in Serbia.

In Vranje, a 70-year-old woman handed a large sum to a man who came to her door after she was convinced by phone that her daughter was seriously injured. The suspect, R.Š., born in 1977, was caught during the night at a border crossing towards Macedonia - money in euros and dinars was found in his car. Even though the victim had not reported the case, police still reached him.

In Leskovac the story is even more concrete. S.G., born in 1995, allegedly deceived a 75-year-old woman who handed him 2,650 euros, 120,000 dinars and gold jewellery - convinced her daughter had been in a traffic accident. This time there was a happy ending: police caught the suspect near the woman's home, and all the money and jewellery were returned to her.

This scam is nothing new - it is known across the Balkans under several names, but the mechanism is always the same: it targets the most vulnerable, the old people who live alone and who would give anything for their child. That this time the fraudsters are Macedonians working across the border only underlines how little these networks care about which country they are in.

Serbian police once again appeal - especially to the elderly - not to fall for such calls and to report every suspicious phone conversation immediately. The advice is good, but not enough. Because as long as there are lonely grandmothers whose phone no one else calls, there will be someone to abuse it. The question is whether the institutions are teaching the old how to defend themselves - or just telling them it was too late.