Police warn of fraud: false social workers defraud pensioners over the phone
Perpetrators pose as employees of the Social Insurance Agency and police officers in order to extract savings from pensioners. Police urge seniors to hang up immediately.
False social workers stealing pensioner savings by phone
Slovak police are warning the public of a new method of telephone fraud targeting seniors. According to Google News SK — Crime (sk), perpetrators in these calls pose as employees of the Social Insurance Agency and later as criminal police officers.
The fraud scheme operates in two phases. In the first phone call to a landline, the perpetrator assumes a false identity as an employee of the Social Insurance Agency or another trusted institution. "Under the guise of paying out cash and needing to change a banknote, they try to obtain information about whether the person is at home alone, who they live with, what phone number they use, and other personal data," said Roman Hájek, spokesman for the Police Corps Presidency.
Shortly afterwards, another member of the group calls, presenting themselves as a criminal police officer. They claim that money in the account is at risk or that someone is attempting to steal it. The aim is to find out the size of the savings and persuade the victim to withdraw cash from the bank and hand it over to an allegedly safe place.
"A typical feature of this type of fraud is the creation of time pressure and psychological pressure. Perpetrators demand that the victim remain constantly on the phone line, forbid them from contacting their family or police, and try to isolate them from people who could expose the fraud," Hájek explained.
Police emphasise that neither they, nor the Social Insurance Agency, nor any other state institutions ever call citizens demanding that they withdraw their savings and hand them over to a third party.
"We recommend to citizens that they do not disclose the amount of their savings or other personal data to unknown persons over the phone. If the caller is applying pressure, asking them to keep the communication secret from their family or forbidding them from contacting the police, this is a serious warning sign of fraud," Hájek added.
If fraud is suspected, police recommend ending the call immediately, verifying information through the official contacts of the relevant institution, and reporting the matter to the Police Corps on number 158. "Do not withdraw money from the bank based on telephone instructions from unknown persons and never hand over cash to a stranger," Hájek stressed.
Source: Google News SK — Crime (sk)