Elderly Danes lose a million kroner to telephone 'spoofing' scammers
Several elderly people in Denmark received have lost money after being contacted by cold callers impersonating police officers
The caller’s telephone ID was made to look as though it belonged to the police as part of the scheme, news wire Ritzau reports.
Through the scam, five elderly people were relieved of just under one million kroner, the National Unit for Special Crime (National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet, NSK) said in a statement on Thursday.
Police arrested a 19-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman on Wednesday in connection to the case. The two young suspects are from the Rødovre and Vanløse districts near Copenhagen, respectively.
They have been arrested on suspicion of fraud, police said. The 19-year-old has been placed in police custody for an initial four weeks.
The two suspects tricked their targets into transferring sums of money several times into accounts controlled by the scammers. This took place under the pretence that the suspects were police officers.
They are reported to have used the spoofing technique – whereby the caller ID is different to the number the caller is actually using – as part of the hustle. As such, it may have appeared to the victims that they were receiving a call from the police.
Cases of telephone scams targeting elderly people occur relatively refquently in Denmark.
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Senior officer Michael Kjeldgaard with NSK urged scepticism towards callers who ask for digital ID (NemID or MitID) information, account details or other personal information.
“Always be cautious or sceptical if you are contacted by mail or telephone and are told you must transfer money or give personal information to others, like NemID,” Kjeldgaard said in a statement.
“Police or the bank would never ask you to do that,” he said.
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The caller’s telephone ID was made to look as though it belonged to the police as part of the scheme, news wire Ritzau reports.
Through the scam, five elderly people were relieved of just under one million kroner, the National Unit for Special Crime (National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet, NSK) said in a statement on Thursday.
Police arrested a 19-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman on Wednesday in connection to the case. The two young suspects are from the Rødovre and Vanløse districts near Copenhagen, respectively.
They have been arrested on suspicion of fraud, police said. The 19-year-old has been placed in police custody for an initial four weeks.
The two suspects tricked their targets into transferring sums of money several times into accounts controlled by the scammers. This took place under the pretence that the suspects were police officers.
They are reported to have used the spoofing technique – whereby the caller ID is different to the number the caller is actually using – as part of the hustle. As such, it may have appeared to the victims that they were receiving a call from the police.
Cases of telephone scams targeting elderly people occur relatively refquently in Denmark.
READ ALSO:
- Does Denmark have a problem with phone scammers?
- Denmark criminalises social media impersonation of others
- Danish police warn of scam phone calls from fake officers
Senior officer Michael Kjeldgaard with NSK urged scepticism towards callers who ask for digital ID (NemID or MitID) information, account details or other personal information.
“Always be cautious or sceptical if you are contacted by mail or telephone and are told you must transfer money or give personal information to others, like NemID,” Kjeldgaard said in a statement.
“Police or the bank would never ask you to do that,” he said.
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