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Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / picture alliance / dpa
So-called grandchild cheaters tried to take money from a woman from Brüggen near Düsseldorf.
The plan was quickly discovered: the woman had no grandchildren.
A 17-year-old was provisionally arrested when the money was supposed to be handed over after a report from the police.
"From the very first sentence the woman called knew what kind of call it was," the police wrote.
"Because she was greeted with 'Hello Grandma' even though she has no grandchildren." The caller said he needed a five-figure sum for a car repair.
While the 57-year-old was on the phone with the scammer for around two hours, her husband called the police.
An 85-year-old in Lower Bavaria, on the other hand, lost 180,000 euros in a similar incident.
With the amount she wanted to help her supposed niece in an emergency.
The money went to con artists.
It was only when the real niece called a week later that the elderly woman noticed the fraud, the police said.
The alleged niece had stated on the phone that she had been involved in an accident and needed the money to avoid being arrested.
An alleged lawyer and a fake police officer also called the woman from the Regen district and confirmed the accident.
According to the police, she handed over 180,000 euros in cash to an unknown man, which he should hand over to the niece.
When the woman later phoned her real niece, she found that the accident had never happened.
She filed a complaint.
The fraudsters have not yet been caught.
In what is known as grandchildren trick fraud, callers pretend to be grandchildren or other relatives and say they are in an emergency and urgently need money.
Often a supposed friend or acquaintance is sent to hand over the money.
ime / dpa
