Various scams are currently being used in the district of Lippe, and new ones are being added all the time. Fraudsters try to get hold of your saved money or valuables in different ways. The perpetrators often target older people. They often play on people's insecurity and fear and sometimes intrude into very personal areas of their victims' lives. In the following, we explain exactly how the perpetrators of the most common scams proceed and how you can protect yourself.
If in doubt, please always call the emergency number 110 so that we can help you quickly! Report suspicious calls or visits to the front door to us even if you have not been victimized.
For individual advice, please call our Crime Prevention & Victim Protection team on (05231) 6090.
Scammers call you pretending to be relatives or good friends - often the son, daughter, grandchild or a good friend of family members. They feign a financial bottleneck and ask for large sums of money due to an emergency. The perpetrators invent perfidious stories and play on their victims' fears: for example, they have had a car accident in which someone has died and now a deposit has to be paid or a lot of money is needed to repair the car after an accident. In some cases, the people on the phone change, so that suddenly someone from the police, the public prosecutor's office or the car repair shop is on the line to confirm the story.
By making repeated calls in a short space of time, the perpetrators exert a great deal of psychological pressure on you. They are constantly on the phone to you so that you cannot contact relatives or the real police. The money demanded must be paid and handed over within a very short time. The perpetrators demand absolute secrecy from you and instruct you in detail how you should answer any questions from your bank when withdrawing the large sums of money. They order a cab for their victims to drive them to the bank and then take them home again. Finally, the fraudsters arrange meeting points and/or passwords with you for the money to be handed over by messengers who are not known to the victim: The grandchild or acquaintance never appears on site because, according to the fraudsters, they cannot appear in person for the most absurd reasons.
For more information, please visit: https://www.polizei-beratung.de/themen-und-tipps/betrug/enkeltrick/
How to protect yourself:
- End calls about the payment of money or the transfer of valuables immediately: hang up straight away!
- Do not give any personal details to strangers on the phone!
- Actively call the alleged caller back yourself on the number you know to make sure you are talking to the right person!
- Please discuss the issue with your family: make your parents or grandparents aware of this area of crime, as in most cases older people are among the victims!
- If necessary, switch on an answering machine for older people before EVERY incoming telephone call: this way, people can listen to who has what concern at their leisure and then call back on the telephone numbers they have known for a long time! Be careful with supposedly new callback numbers!
A police officer contacts you by phone and asks for your money and valuables under a pretext and urges you to hand them over: this can only be an attempt at fraud - especially if the emergency number 110 is shown on your telephone display. The perpetrators, pretending to be police officers, claim that your money and valuables are not safe at home. They also ask you to clear out your bank account and bank deposit and take it home so that your money is safe. Some bank employees are also allegedly corrupt, which is why the money must be collected. A plainclothes policeman will come by to collect everything as a precaution. The victims are usually put under pressure and asked to remain silent. They are constantly on the phone to you so that you cannot contact relatives or the real police.
Further information on this can be found at: https://www.polizei-beratung.de/themen-und-tipps/betrug/betrug-durch-falsche-polizisten/
How to protect yourself:
- Hang up immediately if you receive such a call: The police will never ask you for your money or valuables or ask you to hand them over!
- The police will never contact you from the 110 number: If you see 110 on your telephone display, it is a scam!
- Do not give any information about financial circumstances over the telephone!
- Never hand over money or valuables to unknown persons!
- Notify the police by dialling 110 yourself or contact the local police station by telephone!
An alleged employee of the company "Microsoft" answers the phone in broken German or English. They claim that they need to make changes or updates to your operating system, remove viruses from your computer or set up a new security certificate. As a potential victim, you will be asked to install remote maintenance software or click on a link to solve the problems.
If you do this, you will catch malware that will infect your computer. In addition, the scammers have access to your computer via the software and can spy out sensitive data (e.g. passwords for online banking). The perpetrators often demand fees from their victims for their services or demand money for a new license or a maintenance contract. If you refuse, the fraudsters threaten to lock your computer or lose data on it.
For more information, please visit: https://www.polizei-beratung.de/themen-und-tipps/betrug/falsche-microsoft-mitarbeiter/
How to protect yourself:
- Don't be fooled on the phone and hang up straight away: Microsoft support does not call its customers unsolicited!
- Be suspicious if other people want to instruct you to make settings on your PC: Never give strangers access to your computer!
- Do not give out any private data, for example account details or credit card numbers!
- In addition to the police, report attempted fraud to Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/de-DE/concern/scam
Fake employees from a company such as "Telekom" or "1&1", from an electricity provider or a tradesman are standing unannounced on your doorstep. They ask to see your bills, read your electricity or similar. They always want you to let them in to "check something". Fraudsters at the door usually aim to get into your apartment or house to look for cash, jewelry or other valuables. They try to gain access to your home under a pretext: If the door is then not fully closed, a second person can enter unnoticed and search the rooms for valuables.
For more information, visit: https://www.polizei-beratung.de/themen-und-tipps/betrug/haustuerbetrug/
How to protect yourself:
- Don't let strangers into your apartment/house!
- Strongly defend yourself against intrusive visitors, speak to them loudly or call for help!
- If necessary, make an agreement with neighbors who are at home during the day to assist each other with unknown visitors at the front door!
- Request an ID card from strangers who supposedly work for a company and check it carefully for printing, photo and stamp. If in doubt, call the relevant company before entering and look up the telephone number yourself!
If you receive the message "You've won!" over the phone or by email, you should be careful. The promise of a prize is a common scam used by fraudsters. Victims are asked to provide something in return before a prize is handed over, for example to call a telephone hotline for a fee or to pay "processing fees". The perpetrators give you clear payment instructions (e.g. transfer by post or via a payment service provider) or ask you to purchase prepaid cards for online purchases. The voucher codes contained on the prepaid cards are requested by telephone after the purchase and immediately redeemed by the perpetrators: the money is gone! The fraudsters exert massive pressure and often threaten you with "consequences" if you don't want to pay. Anyone who pays is contacted again and again and further money is demanded. You never see the promised winnings.
Further information on this can be found at: https://www.polizei-beratung.de/themen-und-tipps/betrug/gewinnversprechen/
How to protect yourself:
- If you have not taken part in a competition, you cannot have won anything: Don't believe promises of prizes via email or telephone if there are conditions attached to redeeming the prize!
- Never spend money to receive a prize: Do not pay any fees and do not call any telephone hotlines! For real prizes, you do not have to transfer money in advance!
- Do not make any promises over the phone and do not disclose any personal information about yourself, e.g. address, account details, credit card number!
- If you, as the injured party, identify certain telephone numbers, you can also report them to the "BundesNetzAgentur" yourself: This applies to all advertising calls and other dubious calls!
Scammers are extremely clever in their approach, posing as genuine bank employees in this scam.
They use fake emails, text messages or phone calls that often contain alarming claims about unauthorized transactions or suspicious account activity. Panicked people tend to follow the instructions of these supposed bank employees.
How to protect yourself:
- To protect yourself, citizens should make sure to verify the identity of their bank without a doubt. If in doubt, it is advisable to contact them directly via the official website or customer service number on the back of their bank card.
- Banks will never request confidential information such as passwords, PINs or TANs by email, text message or telephone.
- Scammers often use pressure to frighten their victims. You should remain calm and not allow yourself to be pressured into making hasty decisions.
- In addition, it is important to regularly update your anti-virus software to protect yourself against possible malware that could be used by scammers.