"Grandma/Grandpa, do you know who's here?" or "This is the police. There's been a break-in in the neighborhood. Do you have any money or jewelry in the house?" or the supposedly injured or ill grandson who urgently needs money. Attempted or completed fraud on the telephone has also increased sharply in the Paderborn district. The police receive reports of this almost daily. Older citizens are particularly affected. The sums involved are enormous and the number of unreported cases is high. Unfortunately, the perpetrator groups, which are often highly specialized and operate from abroad, are difficult to locate.
The Paderborn police are also working in many areas to combat the problem. This includes a broad-based campaign on the subject. Under the motto "Shocked on the phone? - Hang up!", the target group of affected senior citizens is specifically addressed with simple messages and warned urgently about the scam. The police have succeeded in recruiting older people from the district to act as testimonials. They give the campaign a face on flyers, posters and postcards as well as in short videos. The materials can be downloaded here on the right-hand side. The videos are displayed in a gallery below.
A second part of the campaign focuses on the target group of relatives. They have the task of warning their older family members and friends about telephone scams. Under the motto "Attention! Inheritance at risk!", faces could also be won over as testimonials. The messages are just as simple and catchy. The corresponding poster can also be downloaded here on the right-hand side.
In addition, the Paderborn police are cooperating with numerous industries in the region (including pharmacies, doctors, churches and sports clubs) that have direct contact with the target group. More are being planned. Relatives are also addressed via extensive social media work and warned against telephone fraud.
The suffering caused by telephone fraudsters to our elderly fellow citizens is great. Many hand over large sums of money, if not their entire assets, because they fall for the perfidious scam of the fraudsters. They are then left traumatized and full of shame. Hang up the phone! Everyone is called upon to spread the word about the campaign and protect our elderly fellow citizens from telephone scams.
HANG UP!
If you have any questions or would like professional advice,
Criminal Investigation Department Crime Prevention/Victim Protection
Phone: 05251 306-3900
Fax: 05251 306-3999
Mail: Kriminalitaetsvorbeugung.Paderborn [at] polizei.nrw.de
Address: Bielefelder Str, 1, 33104 Paderborn
A scam often used by fraudsters to call older people is the "fake police officer". The fraudsters use technical systems to make the telephone number of local police stations or 110 with an area code appear on the telephone display. The callers manipulate their victims by telling them stories about recent crimes. They tell them about alleged lists of houses and apartments that the perpetrators will break into next. Of course, the telephone victim's house is "on this list". They then ask if there is any money, jewelry or other valuables in the house. They then ask the victim to hand over this money "temporarily for protection to a colleague who could come by shortly and collect the money and valuables or a meeting point could be arranged. The telephone victim is also put under a lot of pressure during the calls, which usually last a long time. The victim's contacts often change, so that alleged public prosecutors or judges contact them in between to confirm the fraud story. In some cases, this scam is used to get victims to hand over all their assets.
If you receive a call:
The number 110 never appears on your telephone display when the police call. Hang up immediately! NEVER hand over money or valuables to unknown persons! The police will never ask you to hand over valuables or money to an alleged police officer. File a complaint with the police. TURN IT OVER!
The perpetrators call elderly people under the pretext of being relatives (usually grandchildren or nephews) or good acquaintances: "Guess who's on the phone?" They then feign a financial shortage and ask for large sums of cash because they need the money immediately due to an emergency (e.g. after a car accident). The callers increase the psychological pressure on their victims by making several phone calls in a short space of time, combined with appeals such as: "Please help me!" The perpetrators ask for absolute confidentiality towards third parties (e.g. other relatives). Because they are supposedly unable to come themselves, they agree a password with the elderly people, which a friend or acquaintance will give when they collect the money as a messenger. In numerous cases, the elderly victims have withdrawn large sums of money from their account after such calls to help the supposed grandchild or other relative or acquaintance.
If you are called:
Be suspicious if someone asks you for money over the phone. Simply hang up the phone as soon as the person you are talking to, e.g. often a supposed grandson, asks you for money! NEVER hand over money to people you don't know! File a report with the police. PUT THEM OFF!
"You've won!" Who isn't happy to hear that? But anyone who receives a message like this by phone, email or post should be careful! Because it could be a scam with promises of winnings. In individual cases, losses in the five-digit euro range have been incurred.
If you receive a call:
Be aware: If you have not taken part in a lottery or competition, you cannot have won anything! NEVER spend money to claim a supposed prize. NEVER give out personal information: no telephone numbers and addresses, account details, bank sort codes, credit card numbers or similar. File a report with the police.
Senior citizens should be particularly wary of WhatsApp messages with an unknown number, supposedly sent by family members or acquaintances.
Scammers ask for the immediate transfer of a usually large amount of money to an IBAN number given in the message. The reason given: The sender's cell phone is defective or lost. However, the money must be paid immediately, otherwise the sender would have a huge problem. Do NOT fall for this!