Weiber ring: high dark figure among senior citizens as fraud victims

According to an estimate by the weiben ring, far more senior citizens in germany have fallen victim to tricksters than official statistics show.

"Shame does indeed play a role, especially among this generation," the federal chairman of the victim protection organization, former BKA president jorg ziercke, told the german press agency in mainz. Seniors are the focus of crime victims’ day next friday (22. Marz). The motto is "without fear in old age – so that they do not become victims".

Those who are aware that they have a greater mab of life experience simply because of their age are more likely to feel ashamed if they have been the victim of trickery or theft, ziercke said. In this respect, a "rather high dark figure" can be assumed for older victims.

Criminals often attributed assets to senior citizens and therefore also targeted this age group. "On the other hand, cognitive abilities decline with increasing age," said ziercke. Criminals assume that older people lack effective defense and prevention mechanisms, "so they are supposedly easy prey, also because in the u70 generation, for example, there is still a great deal of trust in the state and its representatives".

Tater took advantage of this and also of the spontaneous helpfulness of senior citizens. "I am thinking in particular of the scams like the grandchild trick, the false policeman or the false craftsman, which perfidiously try to exploit these supposedly weak people."The "phony policeman phenomenon" is on the rise.

This scam involves criminals posing as police officers on the phone. By means of technical tricks, fraudsters can even succeed in displaying the police emergency number 110 on the telephone display of the person called. The criminals then tell the seniors on the phone, for example, that they could become victims of burglars. It is better to hand over valuables to a police officer who will then stop by the house. But this alleged police officer is also a criminal.

The police always emphasize that they have never been asked by telephone to withdraw or transfer money from an account. Also, one should not trust the number shown on the telephone display.

The degree of professionalism of the perpetrators is frightening, said ziercke. "In turkey, for example, there are call centers that specialize in this form of fraud."In order to inform older people in particular about fake policemen, the weibe ring has produced a short film on the subject, which will be available on its website on monday. Munich police also recently warned against fake police officers in an internet video. The video had become a real online hit.

The recently presented crime statistics in thuringia for 2018 showed that at least there the number of seniors among crime victims has been rising continuously for a few years, the head of the weiben ring explained. "Nationwide, however, it is above all offences against property that are significant."In other crimes, such as assault, sexual offenses or crimes against personal freedom, people over 60 years of age were rarely registered as victims. This was also shown by the police crime statistics for 2017.