Overview

• An elderly man in Augsburg’s Hochzoll district handed over gold worth a high five-figure sum to a supposed hospital courier.
• A caller posed as a university hospital doctor and falsely claimed the man’s daughter needed an urgent life-saving operation that required a cash deposit.
• The next day a purported police officer called to arrange another handover, which led the victim to contact the real police.
• Officers arrested a 44-year-old when he arrived to collect valuables, and a warrant requested by the Augsburg prosecutor placed him in custody.
• Authorities classify the case as a growing variant of shock-call fraud and warn that officials never request valuables by phone or through unknown couriers.