Kulmbach police warn of grandson scam

The first calls from affected burghers were received by the police on tuesday afternoon. So far only the urban area of kulmbach is affected.

A female person answered and asked the called person if he knew who was at the other end. She is after all the niece and it is sad if one does not know her any more.

Afterwards it was explained that one would like to come once to visit, however one must first still settle a few financial things. Today’s calls were mainly about the purchase of a property, for which a large amount of money was needed, and now the "dear relatives" for support please.

This is the so-called grandchild trick, which is a particularly insidious form of fraud, as it can often have existential consequences for the victims. They may lose large amounts of money.

With the words "guess who is talking here" or similar formulations, scammers call mostly elderly and single persons, pretend to be relatives, grandchildren or even good acquaintances and ask for cash at short notice. The reason given is a financial bottleneck or an emergency, for example an accident, the purchase of a car or computer, or – as in the current case – the purchase of a home.

The situation is always presented as extremely urgent. Those affected are often put under pressure by repeated calls. As soon as the victim wants to pay, a messenger is announced to collect the money. If the person concerned does not have the required amount at hand, he is asked to go to the bank without delay and withdraw the amount there. It is not uncommon for the perpetrator to call a cab when the victim can no longer walk to fub. In this way, grandchildren’s trick scammers have already stolen sums in the hundreds of euros nationwide in the past.

In kulmbach, fortunately, none of those called have responded to the scam, so no damage has been done so far.

Tips on how to behave in the event of strange phone calls:

– be suspicious if someone does not introduce themselves by name on the phone.

– simply hang up the phone as soon as the person you are talking to demands money from you.

– make sure that the caller is really a relative: call the respective person under the number known and used so far and get the facts confirmed.

– do not disclose details of your family or financial circumstances.

– never hand over money to unknown persons.

– inform the police immediately if a call seems suspicious to you.

– if you have become a victim: contact the police and file a complaint.