Police warn of fraud: callers posing as Social Insurance Agency
A new telephone fraud targeting pensioners is spreading in Slovakia. Perpetrators pose as employees of the Social Insurance Agency and police officers.
New telephone fraud targeting pensioners: perpetrators posing as Social Insurance Agency and police
Google News SK — Crime (sk) reports on a warning from the Police Force about a new method of telephone fraud, with elderly people becoming the primary victims.
The perpetrators contact older people on their landline and introduce themselves as employees of the Social Insurance Agency or another trusted institution. "In the first call, the perpetrator contacts the pensioner on their landline and poses under the false identity of a Social Insurance Agency employee or another trusted institution. Under the guise of paying out cash and the need to change a banknote, they try to obtain information about whether the person is home alone, who they live with, what telephone number they use and other personal details," explained Roman Hájek, spokesman for the Police Force Headquarters.
Subsequently, another member of the group calls, introducing themselves as a criminal police officer. They claim that funds in the account are at risk or someone is attempting to steal them. The goal is to find out the amount of savings and persuade the victim to withdraw money from the bank and hand it over to an allegedly safe location.
A characteristic element of the fraud is psychological and time pressure. "The perpetrators demand that the victim remain continuously on the phone line, forbid them from contacting their family or police, and attempt to isolate them from people who might expose the fraud," Hájek explained.
Police emphasise that no state institution — neither the police nor the Social Insurance Agency — ever calls citizens by telephone to urge them to withdraw their savings and hand them over to a stranger. "We recommend that citizens do not disclose the amount of their savings or other personal details to unknown persons over the phone. If the caller is applying pressure, asking to keep the communication secret from family members or forbidding contact with police, this is a serious warning sign of fraud," Hájek said.
In cases of suspected fraud, police recommend ending the call immediately, verifying information through official contact details of the institution in question, and reporting any suspicions to the Police Force on the 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 emphasised.
Source: Google News SK — Crime (sk)