Warsaw. He claimed to be her son, spoke of an “accident involving a pregnant woman.” The senior lost PLN 60,000

Police officers from Bielany once again warn residents against scammers extorting money from the elderly using the “policeman” method.

“This time, the 85-year-old victim was called by a man claiming to be his son on a landline phone and informed about a road accident involving a pregnant woman” – said podinsp. Elwira Kozłowska from the police headquarters in Warsaw’s Bielany. She added that the woman’s interlocutor claimed that the woman injured in the accident “is in the hospital and is operated on to save her life.” “During the conversation, a second man, claiming to be a policeman from Żytnia Street in Warsaw, interrupted and confirmed that the victim’s son (an 85-year-old woman – ed.) is indeed in the police unit at Żytnia and that a bail of PLN 80,000 must be paid for him. Otherwise, he will go to prison.”

During the conversation, the senior woman informed that she had the amount of EUR 2,000, USD 3,500 and PLN 37,200. “A man claiming to be a policeman ordered to pack the money in an envelope and give it to the woman who was to be his son’s lawyer. The victim, as instructed, packed and handed over the money in the stairwell to an unknown woman. Due to the crime, the victim suffered a loss of PLN 61,200” – concluded Kozłowska.

The police remind you that the principle of “limited trust” in strangers applies not only to children. “Adults often forget about it, becoming victims of their own credulity and lack of prudence. Unexpected calls from people who claim to be police officers, from long-unseen grandchildren, nephews or cousins, do not have to end in our financial failure if we follow the basic rules” – the police write.