“The fake policewoman connected the injured woman to a supposed employee of the Czech National Bank. She told her that in order to save the money, she had to withdraw all her savings and send them to Prague by taxi, wrapped in a towel and kept in a backpack. The banknotes will be used to take fingerprints and then returned,” said police spokeswoman Šárka Pižlová.
The gullible woman went to the bank, where she withdrew 420 thousand crowns from one account. The fraudster was on the phone the whole time, advising her to tell the bankers that she needed the money for reconstruction. Since the bank fortunately did not have enough cash, it prepared another 300 thousand crowns for her only the next day.
“At home, according to the instructions, the woman wrapped the money in a towel, put it in the bottom of the backpack and covered it with sweatshirts. In the evening, she handed the backpack over to the hired taxi driver and paid five thousand crowns for the ride to Prague. The fraudster then told her that the money had arrived and that the rest would be resolved the next day,” the police spokeswoman continued.
In the morning, the scammer really called and the scenario repeated itself, this time fortunately with a happy ending. “Around eleven o’clock, a damaged young taxi driver arrived in front of the house, and the behavior of the woman and the phone calls from the customer seemed suspicious. She therefore decided to contact the Trutnov police,” Pižlová revealed when they learned about the case. Now the matter is saved as a fraud.
Just one day later, another victim contacted the police, this time from Rychnovsko. An unknown man contacted a 58-year-old woman by phone saying that her account with Česká spořitelna had been hacked. The injured party told him that she canceled the account five years ago and is currently using the services of ČSOB. The man told her that an employee of the current banking institution would call her within a few minutes.
A man, an alleged employee of the bank, called her from a similar phone number and claimed that her account with ČSOB had also been attacked and that it was necessary to secure it by creating a completely new secure account or a 24-hour emergency account. During the call, he kept repeating to her that her money was at risk and he kept assuring her that the money would be safe in the new account. In the end, the woman sent almost one hundred thousand crowns to this account.
The most common frauds, how to detect them and not get robbed
In recent months, police statistics have been flooded with stories of unfortunate people who fell prey to Internet fraudsters. At the same time, cyber criminals use the same tricks over and over again, through which they try to deceive and often rip off the trusting. Prepare for them and see how to defend against the most common online frauds.
Criminal investigators and bankers on the phone
Similar fraudulent phone calls are very common recently. It all starts with a call from an unknown number, in which the fraudster introduces himself as a police officer or banker. He will try to convince you that someone is trying to abuse your bank account, your identity, or that someone wants to take a loan from you.
In such a case, the swindler fits the role of a knight on a white horse who tries to save you. Similar vishing scams, as fake phone calls are called, try to scare users. In an attempt to save their money, people often succumb to pressure and follow the instructions of the person on the other side.
