The holidays must have had an extremely bitter aftertaste for a pensioner from Neuried.
Internet scammers stole the bank access data from the 77-year-old and transferred several hundred thousand euros from his accounts abroad.
It is now clear to which countries the funds went;
the chances of recovery are still negligible.
Neuried
– It was a particularly perfidious shock call: on November 19, the phone rang at 77-year-old Neurieder.
On the other end of the line, a man introduced himself as a bank employee – with bad news: He said that Neurieder's accounts had been hacked by criminals and that immediate action was needed to prevent worse.
When asked about this, Neurieder also willingly informed the alleged helper that he had other accounts at another branch.
Hundreds of transfers
Shortly thereafter, a second man called Neurieder.
He pretended to be an employee of an online bank and tricked his victim into revealing his account credentials.
So the scammers got to work: within four days, between November 22nd and 25th, they made over a hundred transfers from the Neurieder's accounts to foreign accounts and to a cryptocurrency platform.
What's more, the perpetrators also gained access to the pensioner's share portfolio through the spied data.
They immediately arranged for the sale of securities worth several thousand euros, according to the Munich police headquarters.
Funds landed in Turkey and Japan
Neurieder had no idea of any of this – until his real bank contacted him: an employee had noticed the unusual number and amount of transfers.
In the meantime, more than 200,000 euros were missing from the accounts of the fraud victim – a fortune.
It quickly turned out that Neurieder had not initiated the transfers.
The man who was beaten then filed a complaint with the police.
The Commissariat for Cybercrime at the Munich Police Headquarters has started the investigation.
In the Merkur conversation, a spokeswoman said the funds had been transferred to Turkey and Japan.
The officials will continue their investigations, but they cannot give the 77-year-old any great hope: as soon as the scammers lose their nerve or the victim's accounts are swept clean, they usually withdraw the money immediately and delete the fraudulent accounts.
From this point on, it is often no longer possible to get hold of the perpetrator - or the loot.
So the officials have little choice but to provide information and raise awareness among future potential victims.
"Your bank will never call you and ask for account credentials," says the police spokeswoman.
If a caller answers with such requests, those affected should not engage in discussions, should not answer questions and instead hang up immediately.
If you are not sure whether it was not a real call, you can clarify this quickly by calling your bank.
Or - and this is recommended more often than most people realize: call the police immediately, by dialing the emergency number 110.