Got the wrong person: After a call from thieves disguised as investigators, a retiree called real officials.
On July 28, a senior (86) in a house in Vienna-Favorit called the cell phone. On the display the number “+4335350331” with the Austrian area code, an alleged detective replied. This is a so-called spoof number that cannot be called back. A man who introduced himself as a police officer spoke authoritatively to the pensioner.
The 86-year-old must help him stop a gang of crooks. He gets a bonus of 5000 euros. But first he had to buy gold bars with his savings and hand them over to set a trap. Another sneaky scam by fake cops!
From then on, the 86-year-old’s cell phone rang up to 15 times a day. The fake inspector gave him detailed instructions, elicited access data for internet banking from him – and eventually the scammer himself bought gold bars worth more than 87,000 euros through a company’s online store.
“Then the pensioner reacted correctly, because everything seemed Spanish to him, and reported it to the police,” Colonel Gerhard Winkler, head of the LKA South branch, said during a background conversation Monday about “Krone”.
Investigations against donors underway
Real cops took over and in turn set a trap for the professional scammers. The delivery of the gold was agreed on August 2 – and the handcuffs clicked for the collector, a 21-year-old Viennese man with Turkish roots.
Winkler continues: “The online portal took care of the return transfer of the money. This means that the pensioner has not suffered any damage.” The investigation into the lenders continues.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
