The woman lost savings books, gold bars, jewelry and other items worth almost half a million euros to fraudsters. The unknown caller had pretended to be a police officer and wanted to help her. It was around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the phone rang. “Pack all your valuables and your savings in an opaque bag and put it in front of the door,” was the instruction of the alleged police officer.
He terrified the 65-year-old by telling her an unbelievable story. There are armed men in their neighborhood who are gagging a resident. A police officer was also injured, the scammer said on the phone. In order not to be next, she should put all her valuables in front of the door, lock herself in the toilet and not hang up. The terrified woman complied with the caller’s request and was cheated out of almost half a million euros.
It is not the only case of this type that was reported yesterday in Upper Austria. “The number of unreported cases is extremely high. Fortunately, most people hang up immediately,” says the police press office.
There are also warnings about alleged Europol employees. An Upper Austrian recently fell for the scam. The OÖN spoke to her:
Source: Nachrichten
