Seniors in their sights: Police launch investigation into shocking calls!

Seniors in their sights: Police launch investigation into shocking calls!

It's worrying what can be hidden behind the phone. The current case of shocking calls, especially regarding seniors, highlights the brazen methods used by fraudsters. The police are particularly alerted in the Höxter district. Albert Ecke, chief detective at the Höxter district police authority, and his team investigated the case of a former Steinheimer and other affected seniors. These calls, which often appear as tricks or shock calls, are aimed specifically at older people and are becoming increasingly common, as Westfalen Blatt reports.

The current situation is alarming. In 2023, this fraudulent calling style will cause a sad loss of more than 12 million euros in Baden-Württemberg alone. The perpetrators not only act locally, but are mobile and often travel across borders, which makes police investigations extremely difficult. The Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office has therefore initiated a project called CESA, which receives over 1.2 million euros from the European Internal Security Fund. The aim is to combat organized criminal structures, which often come from Eastern European call centers, as Presseportal.de explains.

Scammers' field of activity

Call center fraud has become one of the core problems of fraud in Germany. In 2024, a significant proportion of fraud crimes committed from abroad are likely to have been organized via call centers. Groups of perpetrators have specialized in deliberately deceiving older people in order to get them to carry out financial transactions. In doing so, they use flexible methods that quickly adapt to current police measures, as explained in detail on Callcenterprofi.

The challenge is not only to expose this perfection in the methods of deception, but also to break through the international structures. Those who collect the stolen money or valuables in Germany usually only travel in and out for a short time, which makes an arrest even more difficult and massively hinders investigation. The clearance rate for crimes committed abroad was recently only a meager 5.4 percent and is likely to be similarly low for call center fraud cases.

Prevention measures and education

In cooperation with 24 key police departments from 13 federal states as well as the BKA and Europol, the CESA project is intended to tackle the structures in a sustainable manner. This includes the development of behavioral prevention measures to reach potential victims at an early stage and make them aware of typical fraud patterns. The aim is to strengthen trust in the police and authorities and thus reduce the number of unreported cases of fraud.

Local pharmacies could play an important role in this educational campaign. Ecke has already received surprising feedback from pharmacies and hopes to be able to build closer collaboration. A common goal of all of these measures is to protect our older citizens and to restore their confidence in their everyday lives through targeted education.