Warning about scams through obituaries - Police provide behavioral advice

Once they have the name of a grieving person, it is easy for the criminals to look up the phone number or address of the bereaved in the phone book. The fraudsters also extract other private information, such as family relationships or names of family members, from the obituaries, thereby creating credibility in the subsequent conversation with the grieving person.

With a shock call, the fraudsters put the mostly older person, who is already in an exceptional emotional situation, under pressure.

In the calls, the fraudsters pose as police officers, prosecutors or judges and claim, for example, that a son or daughter of the deceased person has caused a serious traffic accident in which someone was injured or even killed. They usually know the names of the relatives and mention them. To prevent impending imprisonment, they ask the called persons to pay or hand over a large amount of money or jewelry.

The police strongly warn against this scam and advise:

Contact for media representatives:

Münster Police
Konstanze Heine
Phone: 0251 275-1010
Email: pressestelle.muenster@polizei.nrw.de
https://muenster.polizei.nrw/

Original content from: Münster Police, transmitted by news aktuell