Telephone fraudsters are increasingly posing as police officers, and the number of complaints to the Federal Network Agency has increased significantly since the beginning of the year. In June alone, more than 7,600 cases were registered in this way.
Fraudulent calls that appear to come from the police are apparently booming in Germany: in June alone, the Federal Network Agency received more than 7,600 complaints, the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND) reported, citing a spokeswoman for the authority.
There has been a rapid increase since the beginning of the year: No complaints were recorded in January, four in February, and then as early as 1768 in March. It was about calls “in which the person called received an automatic announcement, which was supposed to be from Interpol, Europol , the BKA or other national and international police authorities were made," explained the spokeswoman for the authorities.
The Federal Network Agency's website states that those called are asked to press a certain key - after which a person reports who demands the release of personal data or the transfer of money. According to the authority, anyone who receives such a call should ignore the request to press a button, hang up and file a criminal complaint with the police.
