The disaster began when she picked up her phone. Shortly after nine o’clock in the morning, a 91-year-old woman from Vienna received a momentous call last Monday. A friendly woman answered, introduced herself as a policewoman with a German accent and immediately began with an impressive warning: The pensioner was no longer safe. A gang of burglars is up to mischief in the right Wienzeile, and the 91-year-old’s apartment is also on the list of criminals.
It will soon be her turn, but there is an easy way out: All she has to do is get all her savings and valuables from the bank and hand them over to a colleague who will visit her at home.
Savings in a black sack
The pensioner was so frightened by the call that she followed the instructions of the alleged policewoman. She took all her savings – more than 100,000 euros in cash – and packed the money together with valuable jewelry in a black sack.
Just two hours after the call, the doorbell rang: The alleged colleague of the fake policewoman had money and jewelry handed over without a word. Then he disappeared. Another two hours passed before the 91-year-old became suspicious: At around 1 p.m., she alerted the police emergency number. It quickly became clear that the woman had become a victim of con artists. The clues for the persecution of the perpetrators are rare: The man was 1.80 meters tall, dressed in dark clothes and camouflaged with a black cap.
After the incident, the police once again appealed to warn parents, grandparents and great-grandparents against the various scams used by the wrong police officers.
“A police officer would never ask for cash or valuables for safekeeping or protection,” the executive said. Suspicious phone calls should be ended as soon as possible and the emergency number 133 should be dialed.
Source: Nachrichten
