With so-called shock calls, strangers cheated two citizens from the Munich district out of tens of thousands of euros.
Because the perpetrators did not collect the loot directly from the victims as usual, but instead instructed the victims to transfer money to them, the police are talking about a new variant in the area of call center fraud.
District - According to the police, a 68-year-old from the Munich district received a phone call from an unknown perpetrator on Tuesday, May 11th.
The caller pretended to be the 68-year-old's son and announced that he had just had a traffic accident.
Called people should transfer a five-digit euro amount
Then an unknown female person took over the phone call. She posed as a police officer to the 68-year-old and informed the pensioner that the alleged son had caused a traffic accident in which a cyclist would have died. As the call continued, the woman asked for a five-digit euro amount as bail for the son. According to the police, the pensioner finally transferred the five-digit amount to a German bank account on the instructions of the perpetrator and only later found out that he had committed a fraud.
In the second case, an over 70-year-old from the Munich district received a call from an unknown woman.
She pretended to be a police officer and informed the senior citizen that her daughter had caused a fatal traffic accident.
In this case too, the senior citizen should pay a five-figure deposit to avert an alleged imprisonment of the alleged daughter.
After the senior citizen had sent her personal account details to the previously unknown perpetrator for payment processing, she subsequently noticed several debits totaling tens of thousands of euros from her account, which were transferred to an unknown German account.
She then filed a complaint with the police.
Police warn: Never give bank details on the phone
The police are investigating and warning of the new fraud. Citizens are advised that false police or detective officers often use the trick of informing the called party about alleged accidents. They also often pretend to be children of the people called and usually report fatal traffic accidents. That is why one speaks of so-called shock calls.
If citizens receive such calls, according to the police, they should make sure by calling the police emergency number 110 or their relatives whether it really could be a police officer or the relative.
If the police emergency number 110 is called, those concerned should make sure beforehand that a previous call was definitely ended by hanging up the receiver or pressing a corresponding button on a cell phone.
You should never let strangers into the apartment who cannot clearly identify themselves.
In addition, you should never give information about your own financial situation on the phone and you should never give bank details.