A 90-year-old woman from Minden received a call at around 3 p.m. from an alleged detective who informed the senior citizen about an alleged burglary in her neighborhood. In the course of the conversation, the fraudster reported that the burglary gang had been arrested. The senior citizen's name and address had been discovered on a piece of paper that one of the burglars was said to have been carrying. In order to protect the pensioner from a planned burglary and possible financial loss, she should hand over her cash to the criminal investigation department for safekeeping. The woman went to her bank with the intention of withdrawing all her cash. Fortunately, the bank employees thought that such a fraud was possible and refused to pay out the five-figure sum. The police only became aware of this crime because the victim subsequently confided in her daughter.
Something similar happened to another woman (88) from Minden, who was deceived by the fraudsters in a similar scam. In this case, she received an identical call at around 11 a.m. from a suspected police officer who was part of an investigation team. In order to protect her from a planned burglary, she was told to withdraw her money from the bank as quickly as possible and hand it over to a police officer. In a subsequent phone call, the fraudster pretended to be an investigator from the special commission who suddenly warned her about the police. He had knowledge that the banks were cooperating with local police officers. Under no circumstances should she contact the local police or hand over money to police officers. A special officer from the task force would contact her to hand over the money. Because the bank was not open at lunchtime and she was unable to withdraw the cash, the woman dialed 911 to explain the delay to the police. The investigators pricked up their ears and suddenly went to the senior citizen's home address. When she opened the front door, she was once again in conversation with the fraudster and initially refused to believe the real police officers. Only after persistent persuasion did the real officers manage to win back her trust. The fraudster obviously felt that he had been caught out by the presence of the law enforcement officers and ended the phone call. Here, too, the woman was spared financial loss.
The police are not ruling out the possibility that the scam calls will spread to the rest of the district. The police are making a special appeal to family members of elderly people: Educate your parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors about the callers' scams!
- The police or other authorities will never ask you to hand over large sums of cash.
- Do not give any information about your financial circumstances!
- Make sure that the caller is really the relative they claim to be. Ask questions that only the real family member can answer!
- Hang up the phone as soon as the person you are talking to asks you for money!
- Please do not allow access to your home!
- Confide in the bank staff!
- If you have already suffered a loss due to fraudsters, contact the police to file a complaint!