It's a sneaky scam: scammers pose as fake police officers in order to deprive seniors of their assets.
Now three men have to answer in court who are supposed to be members of a gang.
The acts involved a lot of money.
The money, the gold - all gone.
Two Munich women have lost large fortunes: Last year, two senior citizens, then 94 and 84 years old, were victims of a gang of fraudsters.
The damage: 90,000 euros in cash and several gold bars, which were worth around 475,000 euros at the time.
Now three men have to answer for gang fraud before the district court of Munich I.
They are said to have been part of a group with other unknown perpetrators who work according to a lousy scam: Callers from a call center in Turkey pretend to be police officers and claim to be investigating fraudsters.
They primarily contact the elderly and tell them that they are on a list of criminals.
The fake police officers ask their victims to help set a trap for the perpetrators.
In June 2020, for example, they got the 94-year-old to put 90,000 euros in a plastic bag in front of her apartment.
The woman thought that the money would be picked up by a police officer.
In July, they also convinced the 84-year-old to pick up gold bars from her safe deposit box.
She deposited the gold worth 475,000 euros in the anteroom of an apartment building - believing that the police could arrest such a burglar in the act.
Instead, the crooks grabbed the money and gold.
72-year-old recognizes the fraud and notifies the police
In August, the gang started a new attempt - but luckily it went wrong: A 72-year-old at the time recognized the fraud and notified the police. Instead of money and valuables, the Munich woman packed household rubbish in the bag, which she put in front of her property. Police officers were able to arrest Kirill F. (22) when he wanted to pick up the loot. In addition to him, Bilal S. (24) and Fadel H. (19) from Berlin are also indicted.
As a logistician, Bilal S. is said to have sent the person collecting them to the locations and equipped them with tools such as cell phones and SIM cards.
He should also be a direct contact person to the Turkish call center.
Fadel H., in turn, is said to have acted as a mediator between Kirill F. and Bilal S., among other things, organized the joint meetings and in some cases also handed over the means of crime.
The task of Kirill F. was to receive the booty and pass it on to the people behind it via unknown accomplices.
For the first act, F. received between 2000 and 2500 euros, for the second act, according to the prosecution, he was promised 7000 euros.
According to his information, he did not receive this.
Defendants confess through lawyers
On the first day of the trial, all three defendants confessed to the offenses through their lawyers.
The 19-year-old Fadel H. explained that “he is extremely sorry for his behavior.” He had not received any money, but rather it was about reputation among friends.
Kirill F., on the other hand, has a drug problem, according to his lawyer, and "could not meet his money needs in a legal way".
Bilal S. lawyer also said: "The charge is correct." His client did not know who the victims are.
"But it was clear that it was about fake police officers."
The process is ongoing.
The defendants are currently in custody.
The public prosecutor's office rejected the court's proposal for an agreement after a legal discussion.
