Police warn of telephone scams targeting senior citizens in Slovakia
Perpetrators impersonate Social Insurance employees and police officers to extort savings from victims. Police urge the public to be vigilant.
New telephone scam: perpetrators impersonate social workers and police officers
Google News SK — Crime (sk) reports a warning from the Police Force regarding a new form of telephone scam whose victims are mainly senior citizens. The perpetrators pretend to be employees of the Social Insurance or members of the criminal police.
"In the first call, the perpetrator contacts a senior on their landline and presents themselves under a false identity as an employee of the Social Insurance or another trusted institution. Under the pretext of paying out cash and needing to change a banknote, they try to find out whether the person is home alone, who they live with, what telephone number they use and other personal details," explained Roman Hájek, spokesperson for the Police Force Presidium.
Subsequently, the victim is contacted by another member of the group, who introduces themselves as a member of the criminal police. They claim that the funds in the account are at risk or that someone is attempting to steal them. The aim is to find out the amount of savings and persuade the victim to withdraw money from the bank and hand it over to a "safe place".
"A typical sign of such a scam is the creation of time and psychological pressure. Perpetrators demand that the victim remain constantly on the phone line, forbid them from contacting their family or the police and try to isolate them from people who could uncover the fraud," explained Hájek.
The police emphasise that neither the Police Force, nor the Social Insurance, nor any other state institution ever calls citizens by telephone to urge them to withdraw savings from their bank and hand them over to a stranger.
"We recommend that citizens do not disclose the amount of their savings or other personal details by telephone to unknown persons. If the caller applies pressure, asks you to keep the communication secret from your family or forbids you from contacting the police, this is a serious warning sign of fraud," added the spokesperson.
In the event of a suspicious call, Hájek recommends immediately ending the call, verifying the information through official contact details of the relevant institution and reporting any suspicions to the Police Force on the emergency line 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)