Beware of fake grandchildren
The so-called grandchild trick is a particularly insidious form of fraud that can often have existential consequences for victims. This can cause you to lose large amounts of money or even deprive you of your life savings.
Using the words “Guess who is speaking here” or similar formulations, fraudsters call people who are mostly older or live alone, pretend to be relatives, grandchildren or even good acquaintances and ask for cash at short notice. The reason is a fake financial shortage or emergency, for example an accident or buying a car or computer. The situation is always presented as extremely urgent. Those affected are often put under pressure by repeated calls. As soon as the victim wants to pay, a messenger is announced who will pick up the money.
If the person concerned does not have the required amount ready, they are asked to go to the bank immediately and withdraw the amount there. It is not uncommon for the perpetrator to even call a taxi if the victim can no longer walk. In this way, grandchild fraudsters have already stolen amounts in the five-figure euro range in the past.
New variant of the grandchild trick – fraudsters use messenger
The perpetrators now also use messenger services such as WhatsApp to persuade their victims to transfer money in the name of their daughters, sons or grandchildren. The scammers often try to get into the chat with messages like, “Hello mom, hello dad, my cell phone is broken, this is my new cell phone number…”.
Tips from your police against the grandchild trick:
- Be suspicious if callers do not give their name when answering the phone. Don't guess who is calling; instead, ask callers to give their own names.
- Be suspicious if people on the phone pretend to be relatives or acquaintances who you do not recognize as such.
Ask the caller things that only the right relative/acquaintance can know. - Do not reveal details about your family and financial circumstances.
- Don't let yourself be pushed or put under pressure.
Take the time to verify the caller's information. Call the person in question at the number you have known for a long time and have the situation confirmed. - If a caller demands money or other valuables from you: Discuss this with family members or other people close to you.
- Never give money or valuables such as jewelry to unknown people.
- If you feel suspicious about a call, contact the police immediately on 110.
- If you have already been the victim of a grandchild trick, be sure to report the crime to the police. This can help the police to recognize connections, sensitize other people accordingly and convict the perpetrators.
- Have your first name abbreviated in the phone book (Herta Schmidt becomes H. Schmidt, for example) or leave the first name
out completely.
This means the perpetrators can no longer track you down. To change a telephone book entry, you can download the following form and contact your telephone provider. - Do not keep your valuables, e.g. large amounts of money and other valuables, at home, but in the bank or in
a safe deposit box.
Current scam deposit claim e.g. B. after a traffic accident
Currently, fraudsters are also frequently appearing who, after a traffic accident that is said to have been caused by a close relative, now demand a deposit so that the relative does not have to go to prison. They pretend to be police officers or public prosecutors and thus play on concerns about their relatives. The same applies here: the police never demand money over the phone and do not allow it to be handed over to them on the street. If in doubt, please look for the number of your correct police station in the telephone book and make sure.
Change/deletion of the telephone book entry
Con artists use entries in telephone books to target victims for telephone fraud crimes! Older first names such as Wilhelmine, Wilhelm etc. or even short telephone numbers are an indication to the perpetrators that older people are hiding behind these entries. These phone numbers are specifically called!
The police recommend:
- Protect yourself from annoying and dangerous phone calls by removing yourself from the phone book!
Those around you have your phone number and don’t have to look it up. - If you would like to continue to be listed in the phone book, it is best to have your first name abbreviated so that the perpetrator or perpetrators
do not get any information about your age! - If you have already been a victim of telephone fraud (e.g. grandchild trick, promise of prizes, fake police officer), the
perpetrators have most likely saved your phone number for further fraud attempts.
If you receive frequent calls, the police advise you to change your phone number and avoid making an entry in the telephone book! - If you want to protect yourself from telephone scammers, then fill out the form ( https://www.polizei-beratung.de/themen-und-tipps/betrug/enkeltrick/ ) and send it by post to your telephone provider! You can also request the changes via your telephone provider's hotline.
Selection of telephone providers with contacts:
Deutsche Telekom AG
Customer Service
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 140
53113 Bonn
Tel.: 0228 – 181 0
Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG (O2)
Customer Care
90345 Nuremberg
Tel.: 089 – 78 79 79 40 0
Vodafone (& former Unitymedia customers)
Customer Service
99116 Erfurt
Tel.: 0800 – 17 21 21 22 31 31
Tel.: 02214 – 46 06 10 90 0
1&1 Internet SE
customer service
Elgendorfer Straße 57
56410 Montabaur
Tel.: 0721 – 96 00
(Changing phone numbers is usually free for victims of telephone fraud. This selection of telephone providers does not claim to be complete.)
The Thuringian statistics from January up to and including November 2022 (the month of December could not yet be evaluated, but
a further increase in the number of cases can be expected) can be found in the appendices.



Current cases
January 19, 2023: LPI-G: Success for fraudsters
Gera (ots)
to steal several thousand euros
from a senior couple from Gera yesterday (January 18, 2023) So they faked a financial emergency from a close relative and asked for various amounts of money to be transferred via messenger service.
They transferred the money in the good faith that they were resolving their financial situation. It was only afterwards that the fraud was noticed.
04.01.2023: LPI-EF: Fallen for WhatsApp fraud
Erfurt (ots)
A 51-year-old woman from Erfurt fell for a WhatsApp scam.
Fraudsters wrote to the woman on Monday evening via the messenger service and pretended to be her daughter.
They used a pretext to get her to transfer over 1,700 euros to someone else's account. Only after the money had been transferred was the fraud discovered.
January 4, 2023: LPI-J: Con artists unsuccessful
Jena/Weimar/Saale-Holzland-Kreis/Weimarer Land (ots)
In the new year, fraudsters will continue to try to steal their savings from innocent citizens.
The meshes used, be it by telephone or messenger service, are similar to those we already know.
On Tuesday, the perpetrators, who posed as fake police officers and demanded a “bail” for a relative after a traffic accident or a crime committed, tried this in five reported cases throughout the protection area.
But they didn't make any prey because of the mistrust and control of their real relatives .
Source: Thuringia State Police Directorate
Also read:
No fake: EU allows home grilling as a food additive
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 )

