When contacted by a Polish-speaking woman on the phone, a language the victim also spoke, she was manipulated into handing over her possessions and money to an unknown woman.
The caller, who claimed to work for a government organisation close to the police, led her to believe that her bank accounts had been hacked and thieves were about to strike, ultimately convincing her to hand over all her belongings for safekeeping.
The elderly woman gathered all her belongings in a bag and threw it out of a window, before it was retrieved by the scammers.
After telling the story to her daughter, the victim finally contacted the police.
A police spokesperson confirmed that a theft was reported to the Remich police department on 12 May. According to the police, this remains an isolated case in Luxembourg for the time being.
In the context of this incident, the police reiterated that no officer in Luxembourg would proceed in this way, stressing that "it is certainly not standard police procedure to incite people by telephone to throw valuables out of the window so that the police can secure them".
The scam appears to be a variation of the already known scheme of fake police officers randomly knocking on residents' homes.
A few tips for identifying a Luxembourg police officer:
According to the police, the elderly "are unfortunately particularly 'popular' victims of scammers because of their age-related vulnerability, including for other forms of fraud". The police advises that people should never succumb to the pressure of a caller and not be afraid to just hang up the phone, if in doubt.
A similar case was reported on Wednesday, 12 May in an episode of the German TV programme "Aktenzeichen XY".
In March 2020, a 77-year-old woman living in Euskirchen fell victim to a gang of criminals who also posed as police officers and put her under so much pressure by telephone that, in the end, they and their accomplices succeeded in obtaining €400,000 by blackmail.
The perpetrators are said to operate from Turkey or Eastern Europe. Their accomplices operate on the ground in Germany.
