Telephone scammers are still highly active in Switzerland – targeting mainly the elderly.
Prosecutors in canton Basel-City are estimating more than a million francs have been stolen in their half-canton alone.
Many of the calls follow a similar pattern. The target is called and told that either a close family member has had an accident or they’ve been a victim of a potential fraudulent payment at their bank and they need to move their money.
The calls are given added credibility as the phone number the call is coming from can show legitimate bank number of even the local police station – that’s known as number ‘spoofing’.
Cantonal prosecutors say the bank or police will never ask people to withdraw money or hand over valuables – for so called ‘safe keeping’.
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