Haldensleben (dpa/sa) - Criminals used a pretext to lure a woman to the Magdeburg University Hospital and cost her several thousand euros there. The 67-year-old received a call at home on Monday from a woman who pretended to be her daughter, police said in Haldensleben on Tuesday. She reported a severe corona variant, for which she was being treated in the intensive care unit. An infusion is urgently needed, the approval process with the health insurance company is taking too long. The drug can be paid for immediately.

According to the police, the 67-year-old who was called collected all available cash and drove to the hospital - the whole time she was in telephone contact with the supposed daughter. At the clinic, the 67-year-old gave the money to a woman. The caller said goodbye a little later. Only when the actual daughter called in the evening did the woman become aware of the fraud, the police said.