A 70-year-old woman in Villingen-Schwenningen has fallen victim to a WhatsApp scam. The elderly woman lost several thousand euros.
Villingen-Schwenningen – According to the police report, the 70-year-old received a WhatsApp message on her cell phone on Wednesday morning, the sender was an unknown man. He pretended to be her son and justified the unknown phone number with a replacement phone, since he broke his old cell phone.
During the conversation, the man mentioned that he had several bills to pay on the same day and asked the elderly woman to transfer the money to him. The 70-year-old first discussed it with her husband and finally arranged two real-time transfers to the designated accounts.
Granddaughter admits fraud
In total, an amount of more than 4,000 euros was transferred.
A short time later, the couple’s granddaughter came to visit, who admitted to fraud and withheld another outstanding payment of more than 800 euros. It is currently unknown if those affected were able to recover the money transferred through their bank.
In this context, the police advise:
You are never required to hand cash or valuables to someone you do not know or deposit them in a particular location. When in doubt, you should always seek advice from relatives or the local police station in advance. More information is also available online at www.polizei-beratung.de.
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