Thieves are becoming increasingly brazen. Their victims are most often elderly people living alone. Another incident of this kind occurred on 24 September at around 10:20 a.m. A man, claiming to be the victim’s grandson, called him and asked to borrow 20,000 złoty, which he allegedly needed to pay as bail.

The caller stated that he had been detained because he had caused a fatal accident. He informed the victim that a police courier would come to collect the money. A short while later, the Jelenia Góra resident gave several thousand złoty to a woman who was supposed to hand the cash over to the fake grandson. Using the same method, the fraudsters tried to rob two other people.

Police warn that, after selecting a victim, criminals call them and pretend to be a family member. It also happens that someone claiming to be an employee of the Municipal Social Welfare Centre or a representative of ZUS knocks on the door and asks the resident to complete a questionnaire supposedly related to a planned increase in their disability or retirement pension.

In the questionnaire, we state how much savings we have, what our family members are called, or who looks after us. In this way, we provide the fraudsters with information.

They then call us and, using an altered voice, pretend, for example, to be a grandson who is in a difficult situation—family, financial or personal—and asks for help. When the fake grandson is supposed to come for the money, he calls to say that he cannot come for very important reasons, such as illness, hospitalisation or a trip. But he adds that he will send a trusted friend. The substitute friend arrives, collects the cash and, of course, never appears again.

Criminals prey on people’s naivety. Police appeal to residents of our county to look after their elderly loved ones and warn them about this type of behaviour. Do not:

  • provide any information over the phone about our home, savings, when we are at home and who we live with
  • complete any questionnaires containing similar questions
  • hand over cash or any other items to unknown people
  • let interviewers, salespeople or other suspiciously behaving people into the home.

All such situations should be reported to the police immediately.

KMP Jelenia Góra/KPP Bolesławiec/ii