The daughter caused a bad accident, only a lot of money can avert detention – that’s how the trick works. A 21-year-old now has to answer to the district court because he is said to have cheated people out of more than 200,000 euros as a member of a gang.
In a trial about so-called shock calls, the accused admitted the allegations made by the public prosecutor. The 21-year-old has been before the Munich II Regional Court since Monday because, as part of a gang, he is said to have cheated mainly older people out of more than 200,000 euros with a telephone scam. The man said through his lawyer that he had acted as a pickup and took loot, such as cash and jewelry, from the victims.
According to the indictment, the gang’s scam was almost always the same: as police or prosecutors, the members called victims in December 2022 and claimed that their daughter had caused a serious traffic accident. Parents could only fend off an arrest warrant by paying a high bail. According to the allegations, enormous pressure was built up during the hour-long phone calls.
In two cases, the victims then handed over gold, jewelry and cash to the accused. The accused gave the loot to an accomplice. In two other cases, the campaign failed when those called became suspicious. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the gang committed one of the crimes in Stuttgart, the other three in Austria.
The charge is collective commercial gang fraud. The statement of the man goes back to a so-called understanding. In it, the court and the accused had agreed on a range of punishment.