Recently, incidents involving scams targeting seniors have increased. “The perpetrators pretended to be and impersonated grandchildren or police officers over the phone. Now they have used another similar method—pretending to be a census taker,” reports probationary officer Krzysztof Pawlik, deputy press officer of the District Police Headquarters in Lubin.
The incident took place in Polkowice. The fraudsters impersonated a census taker and convinced the senior woman that they were conducting a census. When she let them into her apartment, they distracted her and stole jewelry worth PLN 1,700.
Spokesperson:
We must remember that during the pandemic, census takers do not visit homes or conduct the census in the traditional way.
How can you avoid being scammed?
- Do not trust someone who calls you and claims to be a census taker until you verify their identity. This can easily be done by calling the nationwide census helpline at 22 279 99 99.
- Every census taker must provide their first and last name and official ID number. In addition, a genuine census taker will know whom they are calling and will know the respondent’s first and last name.
- We should act in the same way if someone knocks on our door and claims to be an employee of Statistics Poland. Verify their identity by asking for their first and last name and ID number. Then check this by calling the number provided above.
- If in doubt, call the police. Officers will verify the census taker. A genuine census taker will have nothing to hide and will be happy to wait for a police patrol.
- To avoid having someone visit our home, we can complete the census online at https://spis.gov.pl or by telephone at 22 828 88 88.