Peak season for fake cops at Christmas

In 2022 and 2023, the authorities across Austria registered 1,572 attempts that fake police officers tried to take money or valuables from their victims. The perpetrators succeeded in doing this in 290 cases. The average damage per crime amounts to around 25,000 euros, with jewelry worth two million euros being extorted from a woman. “He was handed over in a suitcase,” said Karl Popper from the Lower Austria State Criminal Police Office. For 2022, the ministry stated a total damage amount of 15 million euros, and in 2023 it will provisionally be 19.4 million.

Video: Interior Minister Karner warned against “fake police officers” in a press conference on Tuesday

The perpetrators put the victims under enormous psychological pressure in their actions. On the phone, they pose as either a judge, public prosecutor or police officer and claim that a close relative caused a fatal traffic accident abroad and that they now have to quickly raise a large sum of money for bail or that money and valuables are no longer in the bank be sure. These would then be picked up promptly by a police officer.

To know every trick in the book

According to Manuel Scherscher, head of the economic crime department at the Federal Criminal Police Office, the perpetrators who are classified as organized crime act very cleverly. Telephone traffickers, who have mostly lived in Austria for a long time and speak German without an accent, call numbers from the telephone book from abroad such as Turkey or Poland if the first name suggests an older person. As soon as the victim gets involved in the scam, an accomplice in Austria is contacted, who then poses as a fake police officer and collects cash or valuables.

In the meantime, a special task force has been set up in the Federal Criminal Police Office to fight against false police officers, which is intended to combat or suppress this form of fraud. In 2022 and 2023, 99 people were arrested. But the cooperation is also international: During an operation against con artists in Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg three weeks ago, around 27 suspects were caught in the act and arrested.

The authorities once again warned urgently about the perpetrators at the press conference. If you have the slightest suspicion, you should call the police immediately. For the victims, the consequences are not just material; some were “probably psychologically destroyed” by the crimes, as Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) said.