An 85-year-old pensioner from Bavaria has become an unlikely crime-fighter, successfully helping police to ensnare telephone fraudsters on two separate occasions.
How the pensioner set his trap
This week, the quick-thinking senior received an urgent call from a man pretending to be a police officer. The caller used a common scam tactic, claiming a family member was in serious trouble and needed financial help immediately.
Sensing a scam, the pensioner played along, telling the fraudster he would urgently gather €10,000 in cash along with several gold coins to hand over. While he kept the conman engaged on the line, his daughter alerted the Ingolstadt police.
Officers were able to move swiftly to the designated pickup location, where they arrested a 20-year-old male suspect.
A repeat performance against fraud
Remarkably, this was the second time the father-daughter duo had executed such a sting operation. In September of last year, they used an identical strategy to catch another bogus police officer.
On that occasion, the fraudster had demanded over €60,000 in cash from the pensioner. Police praised their "exemplary" response, which led to the arrest of a 40-year-old woman who arrived as a courier to collect the money.
In both cases, the scammers spun elaborate stories, alleging a relative had caused a fatal car accident and needed bail money deposited urgently. The first scam involved a fictitious niece, while the most recent one falsely implicated a granddaughter.
A stark warning from German authorities
Following these incidents, German police have issued a strong warning to the public, particularly older citizens, to be extremely sceptical of unsolicited phone calls. They urge people never to reveal personal or banking details to strangers over the phone.
The warning comes amid a spate of similar crimes targeting the elderly. Earlier this month, an octogenarian woman in Munich was tricked into handing over cash and gold worth up to €600,000 to criminals. A caller posing as a doctor claimed a family member needed expensive medication.
In a separate case in July, an 80-year-old man in Ingolstadt was cheated out of more than €100,000 in gold bars. He was convinced by a fake police officer to leave the valuables on his doorstep for "safekeeping" due to a non-existent burglary wave.
Police emphasise that genuine officers or bank officials will never make such demands for cash, gold, or sensitive financial information over the telephone.
