They are warned about them like a prayer wheel, and yet they always manage to take horrendous sums of money out of their victims’ pockets. We’re talking about fraudsters posing as police officers. A 75-year-old Tyrolean woman recently fell for the trick and lost around 50,000 euros. However, thanks to a witness, she has the money back – and a suspect is in custody.
The 75-year-old from the Tyrolean Oberland was contacted by the fraudsters on her landline phone just over a week ago. The caller tricked the pensioner into believing she was from the police and that alleged criminals had her account details. Bank employees were also involved. “The unknown person asked the 75-year-old for help in order to catch these fraudsters. In the course of several phone calls, the woman was so convincingly deceived by the caller that she went to the bank and withdrew a mid-five-figure euro amount from her account,” describe the investigators from the LKA Tirol. Victim deposited all the cash in front of the house. Consequently, the victim explained how The caller demanded that all the cash, including a gold coin, be placed in front of her house. “The money would be safe there at all times because several police officers would be watching the package of money,” she was assured. Witness observed suspicious personBut instead the cash and the gold coin were picked up by the fraudsters. After the 75-year-old noticed this, she raised the alarm with the real police. Her luck: “Shortly before this pickup took place, a witness noticed a person behaving suspiciously in the area around the woman’s house. This was reported to the police,” the investigators continued.Arrest on the InntalautobahnBased on this information, a large-scale manhunt was immediately launched. In the course of this, a 50-year-old Turk was finally identified as a suspect. The alleged “collector” of the money was stopped on the A12 Inntal motorway and arrested. The accused confessed during questioning. “The entire loot was confiscated and returned to the victim,” said the police. Further investigations are still underway. The 50-year-old accused was taken to the Innsbruck prison.
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