27 arrests in major international operation against grandchild fraud
The arrests were made between November 27 and December 8. Each day, around a thousand officers were involved in the operations, the investigators added. Confiscated evidence will now be analyzed and used to solve numerous other crimes, they announced.
The investigators described the scam as follows: The perpetrators, known as "Keiler", called their victims. They are mostly elderly people. They are told that a family member has caused a car accident and that they have to pay a high bail to avoid being arrested. According to the information provided, the calls are mostly made from Poland.
Recently, obituaries have also been used, from which the perpetrators learn the names of the children of the deceased. This makes the scam call seem even more credible to the bereaved during their time of mourning. The claims in these cases are usually in excess of one hundred thousand euros.
In Poland, special forces reportedly broke up a call center. Three female callers aged 16, 22 and 35 were arrested while calls were still being made. They had made fraudulent calls to Germany from a specially rented house in the presence of two children.
In Lippstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia, a woman and a man were arrested who had initially been observed in Hesse. In Lippstadt, the police reportedly observed an 85-year-old woman handing over money to the two men and arrested them. They are accused of three other attempted crimes in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and are in custody.
Berlin's police commissioner Barbara Slowik explained: "The grandchild trick is a particularly perfidious form of crime, as it is primarily aimed at older people." They are taken by surprise and often lose their entire savings.
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- The operation against grandchild fraud was a collaboration between various international agencies, including Europol and the BKA (Bundeskriminalamt) in Germany.
- The large-scale deployment involved officers from Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, and Switzerland, demonstrating the international scope of the operation.
- The LKA (Länderkriminalamt) in Austria was also involved in the arrests, as they have been fighting against this type of fraud for quite some time.
- The perpetrators of this scam often use the 'grandchild trick,' calling elderly people and claiming that a family member is in trouble, requiring large sums of money to be transferred.
- In the case of obituaries, the perpetrators learn the names of the children of the deceased, making the call seem more credible during the mourning period.
- The BKA announced arrests of individuals in relation to this case, including two in Lippstadt, Germany, and three female callers in Poland who were arrested during an active call center operation.
- It is crucial for individuals to be aware of this type of fraud and to verify the urgency of any requests for money, especially if they seem too good to be true, to avoid becoming victims of such scams.
Source: www.stern.de
