Perpetrators steal jewellery Fraudsters in Bonn use this unusual scam to get away with loot

Lessenich · A senior citizen from Lessenich had fended off the scammers on the phone. Then the men suddenly appeared at her door and had an unusual pretext for why they needed to get into the flat.

 Burglars stole jewellery worth several thousand euros in Lessenich.

Burglars stole jewellery worth several thousand euros in Lessenich.

Foto: Adobe Stock

The woman had already managed to get rid of the scammers on the phone. Then they suddenly appeared at her door. The perpetrators were trying to make her believe that they were giving away expensive carpets. They said she could possibly have one. To see if it would, they would need to enter the 87-year-old's flat in Lessenich. The woman hung up. A short time later, her doorbell rang.

Two men were standing there. They were there for the carpets, they told the woman. She let them into her flat because she did not want to appear rude - or so the 87-year-old later told the police. While one of the men looked around the flat, the other pretended to have to go to the toilet. After the perpetrators had left, the woman from Lessenich discovered that her jewellery worth several thousand euros was missing.

It is unclear how many such and similar cases there are in Bonn. This is because they are not recorded separately in the statistics, explains police spokesperson Michael Beyer. They are recorded with other offences under the heading "fraud".

To select their victims, tricksters use entries in telephone directories, the police say. First names like Wilhelmine or Wilhelm, which are rarely used today, reveal that the people are elderly. The same applies to short telephone numbers, which suggest that the line has been around for a long time. The perpetrators specifically call such numbers. And they are often successful. According to the State Office of Criminal Investigation, in some cases telephone fraudsters have made hundreds of thousands of euros.

How to protect yourself

So what do the police recommend to protect yourself from scammers on the phone? Firstly, have your name removed from the telephone book. "People who need it have your phone number already and don't need to look it up." Secondly, if you want to stay in the phone book, you can abbreviate your first name so that perpetrators do not get a clue about your age.

Fraudsters use various scams in their activities. One of the classics is the grandchild trick, in which the perpetrators pretend to be grandchildren - but also relatives or good acquaintances - and ask for money because they are supposedly in need. For one variant of this, the fraudsters use messenger services as well. The message they send to the victims reads: "Hi mum, I have a new mobile phone. Please save the new number!". Then the alleged children ask to transfer money for them because they don't have any data for online banking right now because of the new mobile phone.

Then there are the "fake policemen" who call their victims and try to get them to hand over money or jewellery, for example under the pretext that it is not safe at the victim's home. They often use a special technique that makes the 110 appear on the phone display.

There are also other tricks that perpetrators use to steal from elderly people, such as a few months ago in Duisdorf and Endenich: the perpetrators pretended to be workmen who had to repair water pipes in the flat. They sent their victims into the kitchen to turn on the water and in the meantime rummaged through the flats. They snatched money and jewellery.

(Original text: Dennis Scherer; Translation: Jean Lennox)

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