Khaberni - An 84-year-old woman was subjected to a major fraud operation in the city of Hilden near Düsseldorf in western Germany.
People impersonating police officers managed to take possession of the elderly woman's savings, which amounted to about 300,000 Euros.
The police stated that the incident began last December when a man called the victim pretending to be a police officer and informed her that her money in the bank was no longer safe, asking her to withdraw it and convert it to gold and deliver it to a person claiming to be a representative from the public prosecutor's office to ensure its "safekeeping".
In the following weeks, the woman received additional calls from people impersonating representatives from the public prosecutor's office, judges, and bank employees, which prompted her to comply with the phone instructions and hand over several sums of money, totaling approximately 300,000 Euros.
The fraud operation was not uncovered until last Friday, when the victim attempted to obtain a mortgage loan from her bank to pay additional amounts, which aroused the suspicions of bank employees and led them to notify the police.
The police renewed their warning about this type of fraud, emphasizing that the police and the public prosecutor's office do not request information about properties over the phone, nor do they receive cash, jewelry, or gold for the purpose of "safekeeping".
