“Shock calls” and “fake police officers” scam: 5-digit euro amounts as loot

In both cases, the unknown fraudsters managed to steal a five-figure amount of money from their female victims from the Werra-Meißner district. The officers from the Specialist Commissariat for Fraud Crime have now started investigating the fraud schemes and are now asking for information.

76-year-old woman cheated out of 35,000 euros

On Wednesday afternoon, a 76-year-old senior woman handed over an amount totaling 35,000 euros to a woman she did not know. Previously, unknown fraudsters had contacted the pensioner by telephone and a man had pretended to be the woman's grandson and had caused a serious traffic accident. The conversation was then passed on to a supposed “police officer” who, in order to avoid a prison sentence, demanded a deposit that the senior citizen had to hand over to a messenger.

The fraudsters agreed with the woman as the handover location on the street “Am Anger” near the church in Wichmannshausen, where between 1:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. an approximately 40-year-old woman (personal description: South (East) European appearance; approx. 160 cm tall). ; dark blonde, shoulder-length, wavy hair; dressed in a beige coat, white trousers, black shoes) and received the money in a bag. From there, the trace of the unknown recipient of the money is lost. Due to the personal contact between the real relatives and the cheated senior citizen, the whole thing ultimately turned out to be a scam.

82-year-old senior woman cheated out of 21,000 euros

Something similar happened to an 82-year-old senior citizen yesterday, Wednesday. The elderly woman was also contacted by telephone scammers yesterday morning. On the phone, a man pretended to be a police officer named “Stefan Neumann” and lured the woman around his finger with the story of an alleged break-in in the neighborhood. When two perpetrators of a burglary gang were arrested, the 82-year-old's data was found, which now suggests that the pensioner could become the gang's next victim.

In addition, the gang also works with bank employees, the assets at the banks are no longer safe. As a result, the fraudsters were ultimately able to persuade the lady to withdraw a large amount of cash, a total of 21,000 euros, from her credit institution. The fraudsters later called her again and unsettled her again by pretending that the woman had been “observed” while withdrawing money. In order for the police to “temporarily secure” the money, she should now deposit the money in an envelope at a previously determined storage location.

According to current knowledge, the envelope was picked up on Wednesday afternoon around 2:20 p.m. by a 30-35 year old man with a cell phone (personal description: dark-skinned; short, black hair; short, well-groomed beard; wearing a dark jacket). When the senior citizen later called the police to inquire further about the incident, the whole thing finally revealed itself to be a perfidious hoax.

Information about the “collector” and possible vehicles is requested

In both cases, the police in Eschwege are hoping for information from the public. In particular, suspicious observations at the time of the “money handover” in Wichmannshausen near the church and at the “money collection” in Eschwege near a block of flats in the area of ​​Gartenstrasse and the corner of Döhlestrasse are of crucial importance here. It is not unlikely that the two people who picked up the items quickly used a vehicle after initially walking away from the handover or pickup location. The police in Eschwege will receive information about fraud cases on 05651/925-0.

Tips on the “shock call” / “fake police officer” scam

• Do not allow yourself to be pushed or put under pressure by one or more callers.
• Have the caller give you the phone number of the authority (police, public prosecutor's office, etc.) and check it against numbers you already know.
• You can and may end the conversation at any time in order to consult with your relatives or allegedly affected people, especially in the case of “financial demands”. To do this, use the phone numbers you know.
• Do not fulfill any financial demands until you have verified the facts.
• Pay attention if you are not given the opportunity to review the matter “due to time constraints” or similarly flimsy reasons.
• Be suspicious if communication is to be carried out almost entirely via cell phone and you are supposed to be “constantly available” and not allowed to interrupt conversations.
• In this context, it should be noted that neither the police nor the public prosecutor's office calls parents/relatives in the event of accidents and demands large sums of money for a deposit. This is a scam.
• In this context, never hand over money to unknown people and be generally suspicious of any requests for money, whether by post, email, messenger services or over the phone.
• The police will never ask you to temporarily hand over money or other assets to the police “to protect against a break-in” or even to withdraw them from the bank in advance.
• Inform your family and friends about the scam.
• If you feel suspicious about contact, inform the police immediately: via the outside line or the emergency number 110 and report it to the police.

Source:

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