A 62-year-old from Germany has been pretending to be an employee of the pension insurance institution in Vienna for several months. The police are now looking for victims of the suspect.
The now 62-year-old explained that they would receive a credit from the pension insurance company. He also claimed that they had already been contacted by post, but had not responded to the letter.
A corresponding application can be processed immediately for a processing fee of 10 percent of the credit.
Money and PIN codes elicited
In all known cases, he elicited amounts of between 200 and 240 euros from his victims. In part, he also got their ATM cards and PIN codes, whereby money was also removed.
He also stole a higher amount of cash from one of his victims from the drawer from which the woman had withdrawn the money for the alleged processing fee.
The suspect had been searched for some time and was finally observed on 21 January by the police in the area of the tram stop Neilreichstrasse in the 10th district as he was spying on older people. The alleged perpetrator was arrested on the spot.
Police are looking for victims
To date, the police are aware of ten victims and a total loss of several thousand euros, but a significant number of unreported cases are assumed. The detainee himself speaks of “about 20 victims” to whom he would have used this trick.
Now the police are looking for possible further victims with photos of the suspect. Those affected may contact the State Criminal Police Office, West Office, on 01/31310/25600.
Note
The police point out that public insurance companies never send employees to collect cash or perform other actions.
All contact with parties takes place in writing. In addition, it is generally appealed never to hand over the ATM card or even to give the corresponding code.
