Police Warn of WhatsApp and Grandchildren Scams in 2023

Frankenthal (ots)

On Friday, February 17th, 2023, there were again several fraud attempts via the news messenger WhatsApp. The victims initially received messages, supposedly from their children. Under the pretext that the children had new cell phone numbers, the victims were asked to save the new numbers and asked to continue chatting via WhatsApp. Since the victims already knew about the scam due to various warnings from the police, they ended the chat before money could be demanded, so that the victims did not suffer any financial damage.

Furthermore, there were attempts to defraud by means of grandchildren’s tricks. There are different variants, under which the perpetrators want to get the injured party to pay money. In the specific cases, the victims were contacted by telephone by the perpetrators. The perpetrators posed as grandchildren and demanded money to avert a possible arrest for a fatal traffic accident. Here, too, all the victims reacted in an exemplary manner, ended the phone calls and reported them to the police, so that the victims did not suffer any financial damage.

Our tips!

   -	 Die Polizei warnt eindringlich davor, Auskünfte über Bargeld 
und Wertgegenständen am Telefon herauszugeben!

   -	Die Polizei weist ausdrücklich darauf hin, dass sie niemals am 
Telefon Bürgerinnen und Bürger dazu auffordert, Auskünfte über ihre 
Vermögensverhältnisse oder die Aufbewahrung von Wertsachen zu geben!

   -	Bleiben Sie also misstrauisch! Lassen Sie sich niemals zu ihrem 
Vermögen am Telefon aushorchen!

   -	Lassen Sie sich am Telefon nicht unter Druck setzen! Geben Sie 
den Betrügern keine Chance und legen Sie einfach den Hörer auf! Nur 
so werden Sie Betrüger los.

   -	Und wenn Sie einen solchen Anruf erhalten haben, wenden Sie sich
in jedem Fall an die Polizei und erstatten Sie eine Anzeige.