Overview

• In Oberfranken, fraudsters posing as bank staff exploited the TAN procedure to siphon around €100,000 from elderly account holders over the past month.
• A pensioner in Hessen was tricked by a caller impersonating police officers into handing over €100,000 in cash to secure a fictitious bail for a relative.
• In Mülheim, callers pretending to be criminal investigators convinced a senior to retrieve jewellery from a bank safe deposit box and surrender it at a bus stop.
• 2025 shock call volumes have stabilized in Schleswig-Holstein, with Lübeck and Flensburg identified as hotspots and the actual number of attempts believed to be much higher.
• Police advise never to share personal or banking details by phone, to hang up suspicious calls and independently verify identities using official bank or emergency numbers.