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Hamburg Police Probe 80-Year-Old’s Death After Fake-Officer Phone Scam

Police have opened an investigation with a public appeal for witnesses.

Overview

  • The woman in Hamburg’s Rahlstedt district received a late-Thursday call from a man posing as a police officer who claimed there had been burglaries nearby.
  • She was instructed to place her jewelry outside her Loher Straße building for supposed safekeeping, and an unknown person later collected the items.
  • There was no in-person contact between the collector and the victim, according to the reporting.
  • While recounting the incident to her daughter by phone, she experienced a medical emergency; paramedics attempted resuscitation and she died in her apartment.
  • Authorities have not identified an official cause of death, are examining any link to the scam, and ask witnesses to call Hamburg police at 040/4286-56789, noting real officers do not collect valuables.