Police now warn

72-year-old woman transferred 100,000 euros to a telephone fraudster

A stranger scammed a pensioner with a phone call (symbolic image).

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

He pretended to be the IT representative of her bank - this is how a fraudster extracted a large sum of money from a 72-year-old woman from Linz over the phone. The woman downloaded a program on the instructions of the supposed bank employee, then the trap snapped shut. The police advise caution.

The phone of a woman from Linz (72) rang at around midday on Friday. It was her bank's IT representative on the line, or at least that's who the unknown caller claimed to be. The woman was told to download a program - this gave the fraudster access to her computer.

The alleged bank employee then asked the pensioner to log in to her online banking because he wanted to stop illegal transfers and transfer money back to her account. The 72-year-old also complied with this request.

With each transfer, the Linz resident received a code on her cell phone, which she gave to the fraudster. This is how the pensioner's money flowed to the fraudster. The total loss is likely to be around 100,000 euros.

Police advice: remain suspicious
The investigation into the case is ongoing. Meanwhile, the police are once again warning against such scams and advising people to remain suspicious. Not everything that callers claim is true.

The police also point out that IT employees should never contact customers by telephone. And: Under no circumstances should you give out bank access data on the phone or by e-mail or allow strangers remote online access to your computer.