It turned out that a man had called the woman and introduced himself as a police officer. He said that her granddaughter had caused a fatal accident and that bail of PLN 76,000 was needed for her to be released.
When the woman said that she did not have such an amount at home and had to go to the bank, the fraudster told her to provide her mobile phone number. When he called that number, he instructed the woman not to hang up and not to talk to anyone about the situation.
Thanks to the swift action of the real police officers, the money was not handed over to the fraudsters, and the entire sum was returned to the bank deposit.
Police officers from Legnica were informed that on the same day the fraudsters had also called several other people from Legnica, but they had failed to deceive them.
It does not always end so well. Recently in Legnica, an elderly couple handed over PLN 100,000 to fraudsters. The older man answered the phone. The voice on the phone told him that his granddaughter had been detained for causing an accident. She was facing three months in custody, but could be released that very day if her grandparents paid bail of PLN 80,000.
When the fraudster heard that the money was at home and that the grandparents could pay the bail at any time, he told the older man to go to court and talk to a judge about the details, and to hand the phone to his wife.
When the woman took the phone, the fraudster asked whether her husband had already left. When she said yes, she was able to speak briefly with the alleged granddaughter. She heard only crying and pleas for help.
A moment later, a man appeared at her apartment and collected the money. As it later turned out, it was a larger sum than the perpetrators had demanded, because the elderly woman... had not even counted the money she handed over.
KMP Legnica/ii