Elderly turns the tables

Created: 09/28/2022, 20:02

By: Peter Schiebel

Phone scammers are getting bolder.

Above all, seniors - here a symbolic image - are their victims.

© dpa

A fake police officer wanted to put a 71-year-old woman from Söcking on Tuesday afternoon with a so-called shock call.

However, the criminals had come to the wrong place.

Because the woman reacted with quick-wittedness, even a member of the gang is now in custody.

Söcking

– "Grüß Gott, Mrs. (...) This is the Starnberg police station.

Your daughter caused a fatal accident.

If you don't want her to go to jail, we need bail.” A whole wave of such or similar shock calls has been sloshing through the Starnberg region for some time.

In September alone, a pensioner couple (74, 87) from Starnberg lost around 60,000 euros, an 81-year-old woman from Dießen and a 60-year-old from Pöcking each lost several tens of thousands of euros to the tightly organized gangs with this scam.

On Tuesday, the criminals tried a 71-year-old woman from Söcking - and promptly got the wrong person, according to the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria North.

They called her around 3 p.m. and told the robber's gun about the daughter and the accident.

Daughter?

What daughter? the woman thought.

After all, she doesn't even have a daughter.

The 71-year-old responded to the conversation with quick-wittedness and nerves of steel.

"She knew from the beginning that she was being lied to and that she should be cheated," reports Markus Fischer from the press office of the Presidium at the request of Starnberger Merkur.

However, she appeared to be going along with it – and had already come up with a plan.

Because during the call, she pretended to the caller that there was a technical defect on her phone.

The resulting break used the 71-year-old to inform the right police.

She, in turn, suggested to the lady that she arrange for the valuables to be handed over.

Said and done.

As the conversation with the scammers continued, the 71-year-old agreed to put a substantial amount of cash and jewelry in a bag and leave it near her home address.

A “colleague” should then pick up the things there.

For safety reasons, personal contact between the woman and the person picking you up should be avoided in any case.

And in fact, around 5 p.m., a young man came to the agreed place, grabbed the bag - and probably couldn't see as quickly as he was arrested shortly afterwards.

Because the police had long been lying in wait.

According to Fischer, the man is a 20-year-old German citizen from Essen (North Rhine-Westphalia).

He was brought before the magistrate yesterday who issued the arrest warrant.

The 20-year-old is now in prison.

The woman did everything right, praised Fischer.

Above all, it was exemplary that she informed the real police directly and did not try to become active on her own.

This can quickly lead to tricky situations.

If you don't have nerves of steel like the 71-year-old, the criminal police will give you these tips and hints: .

Healthy distrust is not impoliteness.

.

Is the caller putting pressure on you?

That's part of the scam.

Just hang up.

.

The real police will never ask you for any fortune to conduct investigations.

.

Never give money or jewelry to strangers.

.

If a caller is asking for money or other valuables: Discuss this with family members or others close to you.

More information is available online at www.polizei-beratung.de.

also read

Climate change and consequences: forester shows remarkable development in the forest

Filming in Munich, an award and big plans

By the way: Also on Tuesday, an 82-year-old woman from Eichenau (Fürstenfeldbruck district) fell for a shock call.

She handed the scammers cash in the mid five-digit range.