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Grandchildren scammers report via WhatsApp
Korbach (ots) – With a new variant of the grandchildren’s trick, fraudsters are currently trying to cash in on predominantly older people. While a senior woman recognized the fraud in good time, a 57-year-old and a 63-year-old were victims of the fraud. The fraudsters used the WhatsApp messenger service to communicate with the victims.
The police regularly warn of fraud using the grandchildren’s trick, which mostly affects people, so many people are already familiar with this scam.
However, the fraudsters are constantly adapting their scams. A current phenomenon has recently become more common in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district: the criminals use the WhatsApp messenger service to deprive their victims of their savings. This can have existential consequences for the elderly. The perpetrators pretend to be close relatives via WhatsApp and try to persuade the victims to transfer money.
- This was also the case in the 3 cases from Korbach.
A fraudster contacted a 72-year-old woman from Korbach with a text message via WhatsApp. He wrote to her “Hello mom. My cell phone is broken and this is my new number. Write to me as soon as you’ve read this ”. After the addressed woman had replied, the alleged son asked if she had some time and could do something for him. He then said he had some outstanding bills and asked if she could pay them for him.
The senior asked about the amount of the bills and received the answer that she should transfer almost 5,000 euros to a specified account by real-time transfer. Now the woman was puzzled. All she replied was that she couldn’t do that, that he should call. The fraudster did not do this.
Fortunately, the elderly woman had not sent anything and called her “real” son on the phone number she knew. He neither had a new mobile phone nor did he need any money. The woman filed a complaint with the police.
- Two other women from Korbach didn’t get off so lightly.
A 63-year-old received WhatsApp messages from her alleged daughter, which also included a defective cell phone and a new cell phone number. Here, too, the fraudster pretended to have a financial bottleneck and asked for an immediate transfer of over 3,000 euros. The 63-year-old believed that she actually had contact with her daughter and transferred a sum of several hundred euros to the specified account. It was only after she had contact with her “real” daughter that she realized that she had fallen for cheaters.
It was similar with a 57-year-old woman from Korbach. The fraudster also wrote to her that he was the daughter and had a new cell phone number. The alleged daughter complained that her cell phone was broken and that she could not access her bank app. Up to a certain time, 2 open invoices would have to be transferred. Since the message flow was plausible for the 57-year-old, she believed that she was actually in contact with her daughter.
She later told the police that she never thought for a second that it was a fraud. Therefore, she also transferred 2,000 euros to the account named by the fraudsters.
As requested by the fraudsters, she took a photo of the transfer confirmation and sent it to the alleged daughter. Only then did she call her daughter on her landline number. During this phone call it quickly became clear that she had been the victim of fraudsters.
In order not to fall victim to the scams, the police recommend:
- If someone you know contacts you on an unknown number, do not save the number automatically.
- Check with the person you know on the old number.
- Be suspicious of monetary claims, regardless of whether they are sent by post, email, on the phone or via messenger services such as WhatsApp.
- Pay attention to the security settings of the messaging service you are using.
Inform your older relatives about the scams and make yourself available as a contact person for such cases, because well-informed people are not so easily unsettled and can assess situations correctly.
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