Over the past few days, two scams have been reported to the police, in which the perpetrators duped their victims over the phone and ultimately stole over 10,000 euros.
Case 1: Fraud via WhatsApp
A 70-year-old fell victim to the “WhatsApp scam”. In this case, the perpetrators contacted the senior citizen via the well-known messenger service. A number he didn't recognize appeared on his display and he was told via text message that his daughter was writing to him with a new number. The background is that her own cell phone is defective and she therefore has a new cell phone number; this has not yet been saved in his cell phone.
The further procedure also followed the familiar pattern. The “daughter” urgently needs to transfer important bills, but this is not yet possible on her new cell phone. That’s why “Dad” was asked if he could step in for a moment. Of course, the victim who was contacted wanted to help and transferred almost 4,000 euros to unknown recipients.
Trap 2: Promise of profit
In Flörsheim, a pensioner was called and informed on the phone that he had won 50,000 euros. In order to actually be able to collect the winnings, the person called was asked to buy telephone cards worth several thousand euros and to give their activation codes over the phone. Furthermore, 2,000 euros should be transferred. The caller played her role perfectly with psychological training and got the man to do all of this.
Scams involving the supposedly new phone number via short message services are currently extremely widespread. Always be extremely vigilant and never engage in such games over the telephone. Always call your family members back on the number you know, ask to see them in person, make no excuses if this is refused and talk to neighbors or other family members about the matter.
The same applies to the cases of promises of prizes. If you have actually won something, then you are entitled to the prize without any “fee” or “consideration”. And if you haven't taken part in a competition, you can't have won anything! In any case, always call the police; regardless of whether the fraudsters got your money or you saw through the scam.
Source: PD Main-Taunus – West Hesse Police Headquarters
Also read: Beware of “job scamming”!
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