Brandenburg. Fraudsters are increasingly trying to swindle people out of large sums of money by telephone or messenger services. Just on Tuesday (6 August) the police announced that a man from Potsdam was cheated out of several thousand euros by fraudsters on the WhatsApp messaging service.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
The 68-year-old had received a message from his supposed son saying that his cell phone was broken, that he was therefore using a different number and asked if he could please transfer money to several accounts for him. The man from Potsdam then transferred a low five-figure amount.
Also on August 6, the police were informed of a fraud case in Blankenfelde-Mahlow (Teltow-Fläming) informed. Four elderly citizens between the ages of 73 and 91 had called in and reported that they had possibly been victims of a telephone scam. In all four cases, a sobbing man with a tearful voice answered the phone and told the senior citizens about a fatal traffic accident that he had caused.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
The caller pretended to be a relative. All of the seniors were shocked at first and asked the name of the relative they thought it was. Then a woman took over the call and pulled the well-known scam of demanding bail for the relative to avoid going to prison.
Seniors saw through the scam
In all cases, however, the people who were called had apparently been well sensitized and, after a brief shock, realized that it could be an attempt at fraud. They hung up and immediately contacted either the police or their relatives using the telephone number they knew. No damage was caused.
Also on Tuesday, an 87-year-old woman from Stahnsdorf (Potsdam-Mittelmark) to the police. The scam involved Fraudsters posing as police officers and stated that a relative of the person called had been taken into custody due to a traffic accident and that a bail amount, usually in the mid-five-figure range, had to be paid for release. However, the woman from Stahnsdorf was aware of this scam and did not respond to the scammers’ demands for money.
In Ludwigsfelde In contrast, two victims apparently had not heard of the scam and handed over 1,000 euros each to the scammers at the end of July. On Monday (5 August), the scammers again appeared to have Blankenfelde-Mahlow In one case, an 83-year-old man just right and just hung up.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
The fraudsters had used their perfidious scam of fake police officers and a simulated moment of shock, they were successful and were able to take the woman by surprise. The woman was able to pay the demanded sum of almost 100.000 Euro but gave all her savings (several tens of thousands of euros) to a man.
“Shock call” scam well known to the police
“In these so-called ‘shock calls’ the perpetrators exploit the moments of shock by calling their victims and posing as relatives (son, daughter, grandchild) or officials (police officer, detective or public prosecutor) in a dramatic situation,” said the police.
Often crying, but almost always rhetorically gifted, the fraudsters pretend to be relatives or officials and state, for example, that a person has died in a traffic accident.
In most cases, the fraudsters demand several tens of thousands of euros
The people called are then told that they can only avoid the custody of their relative if a large sum (usually several tens of thousands of euros) as bail. Typically, the phone is then passed on to a supposed police officer or prosecutor to increase the pressure even further.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
“The combination of shock, threats and pity towards the supposed relative is intended to make the often elderly victims not question the truthfulness of the story and hand over money. The perpetrators often speak without an accent and often ask the caller not to end to ensure that they do not ask the police or the relative,” the police explained.
The police provide the following tips to help you see through the scam: Don’t let anyone question you on the phone. Don’t give out any details about your family or financial situation!
Be careful with calls from withheld numbers or phone numbers you do not recognize!
Don’t let a caller rush you or put you under pressure. Arrange a later time so that you can check the information in the meantime, for example by calling your relatives or the local police!
The police advise not to hand over any money to strangers
Make a note of the caller’s number that may be displayed on your phone! Before you give someone your money, discuss the matter with someone you trust. If you feel uneasy about the matter, please inform your local police station!
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
Do not give money to people you do not know personally! A police authority, a public prosecutor or a court (judge) will never demand a bail payment over the phone (“on demand, so to speak”). In German criminal proceedings, this always takes place in a written procedure and with legal representation or the support of a lawyer. There is no bail payment on request over the phone in Germany.
MAZ
