Fake police officer on the wire – beware of brazen fraudsters

Meerbusch – On Monday (June 5th), fraudsters contacted a senior citizen in the Lank-Latum district using a perfidious scam. First, a male voice answered the phone.

The unknown man claimed to be a police officer from Düsseldorf and gave his name. Apparently the fraudster had prepared well and researched the relevant personal data on the Internet beforehand. The fake police officer told the connection owner that burglars had been arrested but that their accomplices were still at large.

A list with their name was found among those arrested. As the conversation continued, the fraudster asked how much cash, jewelry and valuables were kept in the house. To reinforce the story of the arrested burglars, a female person later joined the conversation.

She has just come from the interviews with the alleged perpetrators and is asking for support in the further investigation. After the phone call, the elderly woman had doubts and dialed the number for the “real police”. Here she learned that she had apparently been dealing with fraudsters. In this case, the doubt probably came just in time. There was no handover of money or valuables.

Tips from the “real police”:

• If the caller claims to be a police officer, get their name and call your police department (02131-3000).
• Make sure that this police officer exists and how he can be reached.
• Do not give information about your financial circumstances or other sensitive data to unknown people.
• Never give money or valuables to unknown people. Not even messengers or alleged employees of the police, public prosecutors, courts or financial institutions.
• If you are the victim of such a call, contact the police and file a report.