A made-up story, a fake public prosecutor and a lot of money: what sounds like a Hollywood film happened to a married couple in Kamp-Lintfort. The police warn of phone fraudsters.
Kamp-Lintfort / Krefeld – Con artists have brought a couple from Kamp-Lintfort in North Rhine-Westphalia for a six-figure amount.
An alleged detective had called the couple between the ages of 60 and 65 and, with a fictional story, persuaded them to deposit the money on a power pole next to a dirt road near the Geismühle motorway service station near Krefeld, as the Wesel police reported on Friday.
In order to make the fictional story and his own identity as a detective more believable, the fake detective even forwarded the husband to the alleged police control center. An accomplice there had kindly assured him that he was actually dealing with the police. In the course of the next few days, an alleged public prosecutor intervened.
The couple trusted the fraudsters and believed they were helping the police and the public prosecutor’s office, and they followed the fraudsters’ instructions exactly, which they even prepared for what they would have to say to the bank employees should they inquire about a possible fraudulent offense.
The couple only became suspicious when the police and public prosecutor stopped calling after the money had been handed over. When they drove to the police, the whole hoax was exposed.
In view of the case, the police expressly emphasized that neither the police nor the public prosecutor’s office asked citizens to pay for a crime-fighting or seizure. Her advice: “Never give money to strangers!” Dpa
