Overview
- State and federal police this week are running posters, call‑in hours, community briefings, and outreach in senior homes to warn about the scams and encourage reports.
- Investigators cite ongoing call waves in areas including Achim and Oldenburg‑Land and warn that many incidents remain unreported due to victims’ shame.
- Methods now combine phone impostors with WhatsApp identity fraud, phishing emails and letters carrying QR codes, and calls from fake bank staff seeking PINs, TANs or photoTAN graphics.
- NRW recorded 3,068 cases tied to foreign actors with more than €1.2 million in losses and 514 domestic cases with about €9.4 million in losses last year, with many schemes run by organized gangs.
- Police and consumer advisers urge people to hang up immediately, never hand over cash or data, verify relatives via known numbers or a family code word, and beware of AI‑generated voice clones.