Fraudsters call people under the pretense of representing Europol. Scammers tell their victims that they are involved in serious crimes or are victims of a crime such as identity theft. They then ask victims to provide personal information and make payments, with the callers posing as officials from the European Police Agency.
Europol scammers use fake call ID
The fraudsters are able to make it appear that their calls are coming from real Europol numbers. This is called “phone spoofing,” which is the use of fake caller ID information to disguise the true source of an incoming call.
This is an attempted scam! Europol will never call citizens about such demands or ask them to make payments!
Fake calls, but also fake cover letters
The Authority has been made aware of scams in which fake letters purport to come from a number of departments within Europol, as well as the Executive Director, other senior staff and various international law enforcement officials. Emails and social media messages written in multiple languages falsely used the names of senior employees such as Catherine De Bolle, Jean-Philippe Lecouffe and Jürgen Ebner to appear reputable and legitimate. Fraud attempts have also been made via fake letters sent by third-party companies pretending to act on behalf of the European authority.
Europol does not come into direct contact with citizens
Don't be misled - all of these letters are fake. Neither Europol nor its staff would ever approach citizens directly and demand immediate action or threaten them with the initiation of a criminal investigation. The authority does not issue fines or contact citizens to ask them to pay.
What should you do if you are affected by these scams?
If you receive a suspicious email or phone call claiming to be from a Europol department or employee, please report the matter immediately to your local or national police. The authorities will then contact the European authority if necessary. Europol does not accept reports from citizens directly and cannot investigate individual reports.
You can find out where and how to report a crime in the relevant section on the website .
If you want to learn more about how to protect yourself from such scams, check out the Internet Scam Prevention Guide .
Source:
Europol
Already read? A Mimikama fact check: Video from an alleged hate preacher in Halle shows well-known right-wing extremists
If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:
📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.
Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!
* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

