Overview

• On June 3, a 63-year-old woman in Altenburg received a call from a man posing as a police officer who claimed her name was linked to an ongoing gang investigation.
• The fraudster convinced her to withdraw a low five-figure sum from her bank account for supposed safekeeping.
• He then instructed her to place the cash in a trash can outside a supermarket on Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße, where officers later found no money.
• This is the latest incident in a series of police impersonation scams targeting elderly people in Germany since October 2024.
• Police stress that genuine officers never demand money by phone and advise anyone who receives such a call to verify the caller’s identity before disclosing personal or financial information.