On February 1, residents of Lwówek County began receiving calls from fraudsters who wanted to extort money using the “daughter” method. “Most people realized that it was an attempt to extort money and ended the calls. Unfortunately, a 76-year-old resident of Lwówek County fell victim to the fraudsters,” reports Sgt. Olga Łukaszewicz, press officer of the District Police Headquarters in Lwówek Śląski.
How do fraudsters operate?
An alleged lawyer for the woman’s daughter called the senior citizen on her landline and informed her that her daughter had caused an accident and that money was needed for bail. The spokesperson:
To make the story credible, the alleged lawyer handed the phone to the daughter, who sobbed desperately into the receiver and asked for help.
The result? The 76-year-old prepared PLN 40,000. A short time later, a woman appeared who was supposed to act as a courier to collect the money.
After the victim handed the money to the purported intermediary, she called her daughter. The daughter was completely surprised by the situation and notified the police about the fraud. Sgt. O. Łukaszewicz:
The Lwówek police officers knew that time was of the essence. The local district officer and Criminal Department officers quickly established which vehicle the woman had been driving and identified her.
The suspect was arrested on Tuesday, February 2, in cooperation with police officers from Kamienna Góra and the Wrocław Provincial Police Headquarters. The courier may face between six months and as many as eight years in prison.
Police:
Let us remember that police officers NEVER inform people by telephone about cases they are handling! They also NEVER ask people to hand over money to strangers.