“Hello mom, my cell phone is broken, this is my new number” – messages like these are part of a popular scam. The Nuremberg police have now been able to solve numerous crimes committed by a nationwide gang.
Many people have already received WhatsApp messages in which their own child supposedly asks for money. The Nuremberg criminal police have now been able to solve numerous crimes committed by a nationwide fraud gang. She is said to have defrauded her victims of more than 370,000 euros.
The head of the gang, a 21-year-old from Nuremberg, is in custody, investigators said. The investigations against other members of the gang of at least six members continued.
Scams on WhatsApp
According to the investigation, the perpetrators used two scams to get money. They contacted the victims via WhatsApp or SMS and pretended to be their child. During the course of the chat, they then asked the victims to pay bills via bank transfer. According to the police, the gang maintained a network of at least 50 financial agents who made their bank accounts available for payment.
In the second scam, the perpetrators posed as bank employees on the phone. At this point, they are said to have already had access to the injured party’s online banking. During the conversation, the perpetrators persuaded their victims to release payments using the TAN procedure.
Head of the gang arrested in the fall
According to their own statements, the investigators caught the head of the gang, who was wanted with an arrest warrant, last fall after he was unable to produce a ticket during a ticket inspection on a train near Würzburg.
At this point he was using a false identity – the investigators were able to clarify the correct identity using his fingerprints. Criminal proceedings are therefore underway against the financial agents on suspicion of money laundering.
Police warn of fraud
Among other things, the Police in North Rhine-Westphalia issue an urgent warning from these or similar scams. Anyone who receives such messages on WhatsApp from supposed family members or close people should not respond to them and should under no circumstances transfer money to a bank account.
In addition, those affected should always file a criminal complaint. This is the only way the police can become aware of the crime and prosecute the perpetrators.