The police warn of WhatsApp scammers in the north-east of MV. As in the neighboring districts of Western Pomerania-Rügen and Mecklenburg Lake District, the number of cases in Western Pomerania-Greifswald has increased enormously, said Claudia Tupeit from the Neubrandenburg police headquarters. “30 reports were filed for such fraud cases in January, February and March 2022 alone. It is about a damage amount of around 29,100 euros,” said the police spokeswoman. Last year there were a total of 23 reports of WhatsApp fraud in twelve months with around 26,000 euros in damage.
Also read: Senior citizen from Neubrandenburg cheated by Whatsapp by almost 4000 euros
While scammers seem to particularly like WhatsApp, the older messaging service SMS is apparently going out of fashion. In 2021, ten people affected were sent by SMS for a total of around 20,600 euros, this year only two attempts were reported without financial damage.
Money is almost always asked for
“WhatsApp is being used more and more frequently by fraudsters to get at least small four-digit amounts of money in the short term and unfortunately quite successfully. The scam is always similar: someone receives a message that appears to come from a relative – usually from the children. Supposedly the person has a new number or a temporary number because the mobile phone was lost or broken, for example,” explains Claudia Tupei. They are almost always asked to transfer an allegedly urgent invoice amount. “In many cases, the messages are so credible that the recipients react directly and transfer money. The fraud usually flies up later because the victim speaks to the real relative and asks, for example, whether everything went well with the transfer.”
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Only in the past week there have been cases of fraud in the north-east. A 62-year-old in Neubrandenburg transferred more than 3,000 euros, a 69-year-old from the Ducherow area 2,000 euros and a 66-year-old in Ribnitz-Damgarten 2,100 euros. “Fortunately, according to the current status, at least in the Neubrandenburg case, the transaction could be reversed with the help of the police and the bank,” says Claudia Tupeit. But how do the perpetrators get the cell phone numbers and other data of the victims?
Be sure to act quickly
The investigators assume that a large part of the fraudsters got hold of them through illegal data purchases on the Internet or through hacker attacks on online sales portals or other platforms on which a cell phone number is stored digitally. Anyone who falls for the scammers and quickly notices the mishap should definitely “urge their bank to initiate a return transfer immediately. In addition, a report should be made to the police and the bank should be informed of this report. Urgent action is required as the window for remittance retrievals is short.”
In order not to become a victim in the first place, everyone should pay close attention to the language used in received messages, for example to grammar, spelling and the salutation. “Does my child actually call me Mama or does it rather say Mutti? And even if it initially seems credible that children or other family members have really lost their cell phones and could ask for money or a bill to be paid at short notice: the relatives should always be called directly in advance. It’s better to have one call too many than end up losing money or having to deal with trying to transfer money back,” the police spokeswoman said.
The adult education center in Pasewalk is offering a course on “Messenger Services: Whats App and Telegram” on Wednesday, April 28, from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. This course is suitable for those who have not yet used Messenger, but also for those who want to delve deeper into the possible applications. Registration and further information on telephone 03834 8760 4813 or www.vhs-vg.de.
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