They pretend to be grandchildren, police officers or doctors on the phone and want money from their potential victims. Despite education, the fraudsters are successful with the scam – mostly with older people.
Dresden (dpa / sn) – The upward trend in the so-called shock calls has stopped in Saxony. According to statistics from the State Criminal Police Office, the number of cases fell slightly by 13.2 percent in 2022, and by 80 percent in the area of ??the so-called grandchild trick, which is similar to the year before. However, the financial loss was significantly higher by 40.8 percent. More than 90 percent of the victims are usually older people between 60 and 90 years.
There were a total of 1,144 cases of fraud of this type, a good three quarters of which were unsuccessful. 21 of 26 grandchildren’s tricks failed, in the successful cases 17,181 euros were swindled. The proceeds from the 251 successful shock calls totaled over 1.92 million euros. 867 remained attempts. Most of the scammers faked a traffic accident, in two cases a corona disease or a hospital stay.
The perpetrators make contact by phone, but also WhatsApp, pretend to be relatives or acquaintances and tell their victims legends such as buying or repairing a house or car, or they pretend to be in some other emergency. They also pretend to be a police officer or lawyer entrusted with a case and thus persuade the person called to hand over money or valuables such as expensive jewelery – if they are picked up at their home address or at another location specified by the perpetrator. According to the LKA, a new scam appeared in 2020. It is claimed that you, relatives or acquaintances are in the clinic with Corona and need money in the five-digit range for the treatment.
In 2021, the number of shock calls had more than doubled compared to the previous year, and in 2022 it was almost 15 percent higher again. However, the amount of damage achieved increased by almost a third – after almost doubling in 2021 compared to the year before. The cases of grandchildren’s tricks, however, fell last year to a minimum of 26 – in 2010 there were still over 500. According to the LKA, the extrapolated amount of damage from the shock call had doubled in individual cases, from 4090 euros in 2020 to 8876 euros in 2021 – with the grandchildren’s trick it had decreased significantly by a good three quarters per case, from 14,393 euros in 2020 to 3389 euros in 2021.
