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Criminologist Christian Pfeiffer almost falls victim to a scam

2022-08-18T21:23:33.458Z


A relative had an accident, only with a lot of money could she avoid a penalty: people are becoming victims of this telephone scam again and again. Even Germany's best-known criminologists have now almost caught it.


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Criminologist Christian Pfeiffer: Poorer by almost 55,000 euros

Photo:

Ole Spata / picture alliance / dpa

With an emotional call, con artists almost tricked the criminologist Christian Pfeiffer.

The perpetrators pretended to be police officers, said the criminologist from Hanover at a press conference.

Accordingly, his daughter should have been involved in a car accident with a child and needed 55,000 euros as bail to avoid an arrest warrant.

The scammers cleverly faked a realistic phone call, giving details such as the daughter's name and the color of her car, encouraging him to contact his bank.

The fraud was exposed when Pfeiffer called the real police in Hanover after technical problems to establish contact again.

The prominent criminologist wanted to use his press conference together with the police in Hanover to draw people's attention to the scam.

There are calls like this again nationwide – and people keep falling for it.

The scammers often call from abroad, but a German number usually appears on the phone display.

In a similar incident, for example, an 85-year-old woman in Lower Bavaria lost 180,000 euros earlier this month.

With the amount she wanted to help her supposed niece in an emergency.

Covert police protection for Pfeiffer

After Pfeiffer noticed the fraud, he tried to catch the fraudsters together with the police.

It was clear to him that he was most likely being observed, he said.

With covert police protection, Pfeiffer made his way to the bank and handed over a note that read: "Fraud: 55,000 euros."

The employee put ordinary paper in a small bag.

The scammers asked Pfeiffer to bring the money to Hildesheim.

For security reasons, the police stopped the action.

According to the information, the danger was too high that something could happen to Pfeiffer on the way.

So the perpetrators were not found.

sol/dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-08-18

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