Hamburg District Court - Fake police officers scam hundreds of thousands of euros: Imprisonment
They exploited the basic trust that many elderly people have in the police and scammed a lot of money and jewelry from senior citizens in Hamburg by posing as fake officers. Two men were sentenced to prison terms of two years and six months and two years and five months respectively for this fraud and for impersonating an official. The court considered it proven that they pretended to be real police officers when collecting the valuables from the senior citizens. A third defendant, who probably only acted as a driver, was sentenced to a ten-month suspended sentence. "You were effectively part of this fraud machine," said the presiding judge in her sentencing remarks about the men aged 25, 26 and 27.
The court heard three cases from the summer of 2020 in which two senior citizens and one senior citizen handed over almost 460,000 euros in jewelry and money as well as their EC card with pin to the fraudsters and accomplices. In one case, a canvas bag full of jewelry was handed over, in another an envelope with a debit card was thrown from a balcony. Together with the words "Have a happy day!". One of the fake officers on the phone pretended to be "Mr. Fröhlich".
The scam in the run-up to the handover was always similar: in a phone call - supposedly from the police, but actually with a false telephone number from Turkey - the later victims were informed that their name and address would be on the list of a Romanian gang of burglars. They were after jewelry and money and the elderly people should get both to safety quickly. Preferably directly to the police, and someone could come by right away.
This was assured so credibly on the phone by the so-called "Keilers" that "all three victims fell for it", the presiding judge continued. "Older people who trust and believe authorities are also specially selected."
The three defendants did not call the victims themselves and were not responsible for the logistics between those behind the scam and the traffickers. But they certainly knew what they were doing. "Even if they are interchangeable. They are not a small cog, they are essential," the judge went on to say to the men, also quoting from a judgment in a similar case.
The specific cases from the summer of 2020: In July, an 82-year-old man handed over 47,000 euros in good faith after receiving a call from a "police officer Weber" by leaving an envelope on his doorstep. It is collected by one of the accused. In August, a 79-year-old woman hands over her EC card to the crooks and also has one of the defendants drive her to the bank to empty her safe deposit box "for security reasons". She hands over jewelry and cash worth around 70,000 euros. In addition, 2000 euros were withdrawn with her EC card.
"The crime is really out of the ordinary, you really did a lot," she said to the 27-year-old defendant, who had driven the woman "in the confidence that you are a police officer and that everything is in order". "This really has a different quality. You have to go through that first," said the presiding judge.
In a third case in August, the fraudsters first take a canvas bag with jewelry worth 45,000 euros and a debit card. In the following days, the 65-year-old woman is also treated on the phone and ultimately hands over 285,000 euros to accomplices of the accused.
The public prosecutor's office had pleaded for sentences of between two years and nine months and two years, some of which were suspended. The defense had demanded suspended sentences for all three defendants.
Commercial and gang fraud could not be proven against the defendants. All defendants had paid restitution in the amount of 12,000 to 25,000 euros before the verdict was announced. According to the judge, this had a considerably mitigating effect on the sentence. In addition, it was ordered that the defendants be ordered to pay compensation worth between 1800 and a good 34,000 euros. The verdict is not yet final.
Particularly bitter: in two cases, the senior citizens were actually suspicious, but were easily convinced by the callers. One of the victims was simply unlucky: he smelled a rat and called the emergency number 110 immediately after the scam call. However, the previous call had not been interrupted and so the fraudsters were able to have their own story confirmed directly by a "colleague".
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- The fraudsters used a false telephone number from Turkey to claim they were calling from the police in Hamburg, targeting senior citizens and tricking them into handing over jewelry and money.
- The regional court in Hamburg found a gang of burglars responsible for scamming hundreds of thousands of euros from senior citizens within the city, using a conspiracy of impersonating police officers.
- The court sentence included a two-year and six-month prison term for one man, accused of posing as a police officer and collecting valuables from a woman, while a third man, acting as a driver, received a ten-month suspended sentence.
- The fraudsters would often contact senior citizens, claiming they were from the police and that their names and addresses were on a list of targets for a Romanian gang of burglars, eventually persuading them to hand over prized possessions for 'safety'.
- It emerged that the gang of burglars had been operating in Hamburg for several months, successfully scamming senior citizens, and a total of 460,000 euros in jewelry and money were stolen from three victims over the summer of 2020.
Source: www.stern.de
