Senior citizens ripped off

Telephone fraudster extradited to Germany

Police in Spain have arrested a high-ranking member of a gang specializing in scam calls. The 28-year-old has now been extradited to Germany and is in custody, according to the State Criminal Police Office in Stuttgart. He was searched for throughout Europe. 

A year ago, investigators had already broken up the gang, which specialized in this increasingly popular and unscrupulous scam. At that time, several properties were searched in Frankfurt am Main, in the North Rhine-Westphalian cities of Neuss, Kaarst and Haan as well as in Great Britain, the State Office of Criminal Investigation explained a year ago.

The suspected head of the gang was caught in the London area at the time. He had already been wanted by the Polish law enforcement authorities. According to earlier information, the gang is said to have caused a total loss of around five million euros in more than 120 cases in Germany alone.

Cheating senior citizens out of money
The group mainly targeted elderly people, whom they took by surprise on the phone with the lie that a close relative had caused a serious accident resulting in injury or death. In order to avoid arrest, money or valuables would have to be handed over to a courier as supposed bail.