Since June 2018, there have been a large number of fraudulent calls to older or elderly people. And this scam is also currently being used.
The Vienna State Police Department reports that the unknown perpetrator or perpetrators pretend to be police officers and tell their victims that a relative has been involved in a traffic accident or has been arrested and that a large sum of cash must be paid as a “deposit”.
Current case
On August 29, 2018, there were at least three calls of this type. While one woman was warned in time by a taxi driver on the way to the bank, the other two women, aged 72 and 82, each received a large sum of cash . paid the “deposit” in the form of gold coins and handed over the valuables to an unknown perpetrator. The amount of damage in these two cases amounts to more than 130,000 euros.
Investigations are ongoing
The Vienna State Criminal Police Office, EB05, is investigating currently unknown perpetrators.
What makes the investigation more difficult is that the fraudulent acts are often only reported to the police hours later. Special attention is paid to prevention in police action.
Banks and various public institutions have been and are being sensitized. In this context, the Vienna police also ask the population, relatives or known older people to inform them about this type of fraud and to inform them about the correct procedure.
Crime prevention recommendation:
• Immediately cancel phone calls in which you are asked to pay money.
Do not get involved in any discussions and make it clear to the other person that you will not respond to any of the demands/offers. • If in doubt, always have your ID card shown to you, even by police officers.
• If relatives are implicated, contact them to verify the authenticity of any alleged incident.
• Don't let anyone you don't know into your house or apartment.
To make contact, use the intercom or use the door security chain or security bar. • If fraud has occurred, all information about the perpetrator is particularly important: note down appearance, clothing, language, license plate number, car color, etc.
• Report the crime immediately to the nearest police station.
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 )

