Danger! Police warn of grandchild trick fraud in our city!

Danger! Police warn of grandchild trick fraud in our city!

The police are currently warning urgently about the so-called grandchild trick and call center fraud, which primarily target older people. These scams have become increasingly important in recent years, as the fraud crime statistics also show. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, fraud crime in Germany fell by 1.5 percent to a total of 743,472 cases in 2024, but call center fraud remains one of the central phenomena that is often organized from abroad, especially from Turkey or Eastern Europe. The perpetrators often use techniques such as call ID spoofing to disguise their identity and make the call appear deceptively genuine. Anyone who receives unknown calls should always be careful and be particularly suspicious, according to stadt-woerth.de.

As the police emphasize in their prevention tips, it is important to hang up immediately when receiving suspicious calls. If in doubt, the public is asked to call the emergency number 110 to obtain information from the police. The police never request money or jewelry for collection, nor do they collect valuables from your front door. No money transfers may be requested over the telephone. Victims of fraud should also be informed that real police officers never call 110, so it is advisable not to respond to requests on the phone.

Fraud protection measures

To protect yourself from con artists, the police also recommend hiding personal information such as telephone numbers. Fraudsters use phone book entries to target older people. Older first names and short telephone numbers often serve as indicators of the age of those affected. A sensible step could be to remove yourself from the telephone book or to shorten your first name to make your age less obvious. Victims of phone fraud are advised to change their phone number, which is usually free of charge, and a notice should be sent to the phone provider. Special forms can also be used.

The police provide the following contacts for the most important telephone providers in Germany:

• Deutsche Telekom AG: Tel. 0228 – 181 0
• Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG (O2): Tel. 089 – 78 79 79 40 0
• Vodafone: Tel. 0800 – 17 21 21 22 31 31 / 02214 – 46 06 10 90 01
• 1&1 Internet SE: Tel. 0721 – 96 00

The dimension of the problem

Despite the decline in the overall number of fraud crimes, call center fraud remains a serious threat. In 2024, an additional 513,000 cases of fraud were registered from abroad, even though only around 20 percent of all fraud crimes are reported. The police are therefore increasing their international cooperation and prevention measures. Citizens are asked to remain vigilant in view of the high number of unreported cases of fraud and not to be afraid to use their own telephone numbers to contact relatives or the police.

Prevention plays a crucial role in the fight against fraud. It is therefore important that older people and their relatives actively inform themselves and keep each other up to date about the fraudsters' methods. According to Polizei-beratung.de, there are helpful resources to arm yourself against the grandchild trick and other scams.

In today's digital world, citizen vigilance is essential to protect themselves from fraud and expose perpetrators.