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An 86-year-old woman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania lost around 300,000 euros to fraudsters.
As a police spokesman said on Friday in Rostock, the flute woman was the victim of the so-called shock call scam.
According to experts, it is one of the highest amounts of individual damage caused by fraud in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for months.
A stranger called the woman on Wednesday and pretended to be her son.
He caused a serious accident and urgently needs money to settle the damage.
He could not come to pick it up himself and would send a lawyer friend as a messenger.
When an unknown man came to her home later, the pensioner handed him around 300,000 euros.
It wasn't until the woman called her real son later that the dizziness was exposed.
"Shock calls" are increasing in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
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In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania such "shock calls" have been increasing for weeks.
In the Rostock region, the police recently reported about 40 such fraudulent calls.
In 2020, con artists in the northeast stole more than 1.5 million euros.