A multinational police investigation has arrested dozens of suspects, including alleged bosses of an organized crime operation that targeted elderly victims with fraudulent phone calls, Europol said.
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested a person believed to be responsible for the network near London, while Polish and German police officers searched multiple locations around the continent, finding mobile phones, other electronic devices and money. They seized bars, coins, jewelry and €160,000 ($174,000). In cash.
About 70 people were arrested in the course of the investigation.
Read more on Europol’s actions: European police take down multi-million dollar investment fraud gang
This scam was mainly done in two parts. First, scammers pretended to be police officers or officials and called elderly victims, telling them that their relatives were responsible for the accident that caused the death of others.
The phone was then passed to another person who desperately screamed for help at the device. The tactic was intended to shock the recipient into complying with the scammer’s order to hand over the money to avoid the detention of the fake relative.
In the second stage, we sent people to collect the money directly from the victim’s home. Europol said the person was an unwitting money mule, usually scouted through an online recruitment platform.
In total, Europol estimated that hundreds of elderly victims were affected by the gang and lost as much as €5 million ($5.4 million) in the process. Police said the group’s raids could have prevented an additional €1.4 million ($1.5 million) in losses.
Such scams can defraud victims of “irrecoverable” sums, while also causing severe emotional distress and loss of trust in legitimate authorities, Europol argues. bottom.
Last year, Britain’s telecommunications regulator announced plans to crack down on calls spoofing bank, police and other agency numbers in a bid to win the trust of victims.
