Heilbronn (dpa/lsw) – For years, criminals have been making so-called shock calls to older people in Baden-Württemberg – now the police have arrested a suspected member of a telephone fraud gang in Heilbronn. As the investigators announced on Wednesday, the 32-year-old actually wanted to receive 100,000 euros from an elderly lady. But instead, the Kripo received the collector and arrested her. A judge later sent the suspect into custody.
According to a police spokeswoman, the actions of the telephone fraud gang in the affected 58-year-old corresponded to a well-known scam: the woman received a call from her alleged daughter, who is said to have caused a fatal accident. Then a supposed policewoman took over the conversation and told the 58-year-old that she had to hand over 100,000 euros in cash as bail to a collector so that the daughter could be released again.
What the scammers on the phone didn’t know: the elderly woman also called the real police on her cell phone. This threaded the fictitious handover of money last Friday.
According to the spokeswoman, the police have repeatedly succeeded in arresting people picking up these gangs of fraudsters. However, she emphasized that despite everything, this happened quite rarely. Older people in particular continue to fall for the tricksters and lose large amounts of money.
