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The number of home burglaries has reached record levels during the corona pandemic. Shows figures that TT has produced.
Between 50 and 70 percent of all home burglaries are predicted to be committed by professional, often foreign, leagues, who, according to Håkan Franzén, an insurance expert at Trygg-Hansa, traveled back to their home countries before closing. of the borders.
But when crime has decreased in one direction, it has increased in another.
– A thief does not give up. They find other ways to get hold of the property, and since the pandemic started, we’ve seen an increase in fraud, Franzén says.
New wave of fraud
A few weeks ago, GT spoke about a form of fraud in which the perpetrator calls an elderly person and claims that there is information that the elderly person has encountered a person infected with covid and that a self-check should be performed. After that, the caller wants to pay to send the proof in question by mail.
– The scammer says that the person had contact with someone who was infected with covid-19 and needs to do a self-check which costs 50 SEK. The scammer then tries to get the card information, and if you hand it over, there is a risk that the account will be emptied, said Magnus Lindegren, then head of the fraud section in Gothenburg.
And right now there is a new wave of fraud against the elderly in western Sweden, and here too the ongoing pandemic is included in the criminal plan.
Elderly and Singles
The scammers call the victims and pretend to be from the bank. They say there is a fault with the senior’s credit card and it needs to be replaced.
– Then they offer home visits to help replace the credit card, continues Anna-Karin Kjellgren. They justify the home visit with the ongoing pandemic and that many of the elderly should not go out, says Anna-Karin Kjellgren, crime prevention officer in the West Region fraud section.
Two-thirds of the victims are women, live alone, and were born in the 1920s and 1930s. In some cases, the scammers have even posed as police officers.
– As always in cases like this, they are very kind and eloquent, but if someone calls whom you do not know and wants something from you, you just have to hang up. It’s hot, it’s okay to be unpleasant, says Kjellgren.
How to protect yourself from fraud
Remember that the bank or the police never call and ask someone to hand over valuables or personal information.
If you get these kinds of questions, please hang up.
Report directly to the police. Also report an attempted crime.
* Source: Police
“Avoid the media”
Since the end of September, 60 fraud attempts have been carried out with the same approach, and in half of the cases criminals have come across bank cards, cash or valuables.
– A woman born in 1921 was tricked into giving up her wedding ring, says Anna-Karin Kjellgren, continuing:
– Scammers don’t shy away from funds. You could use every expletive in existence to describe them. It is so low. Those who have been exposed to this feel very bad and are very cut.
Police are now asking the public to spread information about the ongoing scams to family, colleagues, friends, and others with elderly relatives.
So far, no suspects have been arrested, but Anna-Karin Kjellgren has high hopes that she can put scammers there.
– We are optimistic. But in order not to ruin anything in the research work, I can’t go into why.
