Investigators arrested a 21-year-old German. This is the fourth arrest since October 2022.
Styria (OTS) – The “fake police officers” are still active in Styria. On 19 December 2022, two male scammers tried to get a 73-year-old woman from Graz to hand over cash, under the guise of being a “senior police inspector” and an “emergency police officer”. To underline the credibility of the conversation, the woman was also put in contact with a “police psychologist”. As is well known, bogus facts are nothing new: “Your property is in danger from a gang of robbers on the run. Take your money from the bank and give it to us. We come to your home address.
Telephone contact for three days
The perpetrators contacted the victim several times, thereby gaining their trust. The woman actually went to her home bank and wanted to withdraw a large sum of money there. For security reasons, however, this was not possible.
Mistrust prevented serious fraud
The 73-year-old became suspicious and informed a relative of her intention. A report was then submitted to the Graz-Lend police station. The investigating officials reacted quickly and informed the Graz Criminal Investigation Department, which in turn informed the Styrian State Criminal Police Office. In this way it was possible to adopt tactical-criminal measures in a very short time.
Arrested during the planned handover
Criminals from the Graz City Police Command arrested the German suspect (21) at the 73-year-old’s home address. In the course of further investigations, which were carried out jointly by the fraud teams of the Graz City Police Headquarters and the Styrian State Criminal Police Office, it was possible to find out the whereabouts of the man in Graz. another fraud attempt against a 72-year-old woman from Graz can also be attributed to the perpetrators in question.
The culprit does not confess
The “false policeman” does not confess the facts. The Graz public prosecutor’s office has ordered his confinement to the Graz-Jakomini prison.
Preventive measures: new note
An investigator from the State Criminal Police Office: “In the specific case we would like to specify the type of communication. In addition to trying to imitate a very official language, the perpetrators sometimes used a very rude and sometimes too nonchalant tone with their victims. The population should also pay attention to this and react suspiciously and immediately report suspicious incidents to the police (133). Especially if the alleged policemen have already announced further calls, it would be very important to inform the “real police” as soon as possible.
useful investigative insights
The fraud investigator explains that the results of the investigation of the last three arrests are clear. “With the help of the people of Styria, we have been able to arrest four perpetrators since October 2022. With every single arrest, we gain new insights that help us in the investigation.”
Questions and contacts:
Provincial Police Headquarters in Styria
Public Relations and Internal Operations Office (L1)
Control Inspector Heimo Kohlbacher
Press officer
Telephone +43 59133 60-1133
Mobile +43 664 887 944 84
