The man received a WhatsApp message from an unknown person posing as his daughter.
The police warn of criminal gangs on the Internet.
Schäftlarn - A 66-year-old Schäftlarn was the victim of a WhatsApp scammer.
The man received a WhatsApp message from an unidentified person claiming to be his daughter on Tuesday.
This was announced by the police in Holzkirchen.
The supposed daughter asked him to transfer around 2000 euros to a specified account.
Without otherwise contacting his real daughter, he transferred the money.
After another WhatsApp message to make another transfer, the victim noticed the fraud;
the man informed the police.
As a rule, an emergency is feigned
As a rule, in these cases of fraud, an emergency situation is feigned.
The police officers of the inspection in Holzkirchen have initiated the investigation.
"We check who the subscriber is," says department head Johann Brandhuber when asked by Münchner Merkur.
It's just not that easy: According to Brandhuber, the prepaid SIM cards are often activated with the wrong name.
"The people with the names usually don't even exist."
A second starting point is the bank account to which the money was transferred: these are usually registered abroad, and the investigative options of the local police officers are then quickly exhausted.
“Catching the perpetrators is difficult”
"Grab the perpetrators is difficult," says the police chief of Holzkirchen.
But a quick report to the police would increase the likelihood of catching the perpetrators.
According to Brandhuber, the scammers are mostly organized in gangs, they operate call centers in Turkey, the Baltic States and Russia.
“For sure” German-speaking people are also involved.