The fraudsters, who spoke English with an Indian accent, contacted the young woman by phone on Thursday. Allegedly her “ID” was used for a crime. She therefore now has to work with Europol, the “Money Laundering and Drugs Department”. Otherwise, the caller threatened her with “significant consequences” including a prison sentence.

The alleged call number matched a real Europol phone number. The arrangement was that the woman should go to a discount store and wait outside in the parking lot. There she received instructions over the phone to buy prepaid cards and give the caller the valuable codes. She did.

The fraudster then directed her to several more stores and made her buy more prepaid cards until her bank card's daily limit was reached. In this way, your money could supposedly be kept “safe”. The next step was to make several transfers from her savings account to an account in Thailand, but this failed. The woman from Iserlohn also provided her identity card number.

The police strongly warn against giving information about personal or financial circumstances over the phone.

Neither the police nor Europol ask for transfers or the purchase of prepaid cards. Europol has no authority to impose fines. Under no circumstances should you follow callers’ requests! Hanging up is the best way to protect yourself from such scammers. Those affected should then file a report with the local police. Further information is available from the Federal Criminal Police Office at https://url.nrw/europol-fake .


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