Phone scammers scam more than 200,000 francs
Unknown telephone scammers recently tricked a woman living in the district of Horgen into transferring more than 200,000 Swiss francs to them.
According to the Zurich Cantonal Police, this is how the incident unfolded: an unknown telephone fraudster contacted a 34-year-old woman by cell phone and pretended to be an employee of Interpol. He claimed that various fraud offenses had been committed with the stolen personal data of the called person and that she had therefore become the focus of the investigation. By cooperating with the authorities and transferring her money to a "safe account", she could avoid the threat of imprisonment.
The woman was put under a lot of pressure by the scammers, called several times a day and received corresponding instructions via chat for the transfer of funds. She received plausible answers to her critical questions about the procedure of the alleged investigating authority, which is why she felt obliged to follow the instructions. In addition, the contact person conveyed to her that her assistance was indispensable for the conviction of the criminals. Only when the woman had transferred more than 200,000 francs to the accounts indicated by the criminals did she file a report with the Zurich Cantonal Police.
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How to protect yourself from phone scammers
- End a call immediately if you do not know the person who is calling you.
- Do not give out your personal details or other confidential information to anyone over the phone.
- Never transfer or hand over money (or other assets) to an unknown person.
- Immediately contact a trusted person and dial the police emergency number 117.
