The commissioner’s appeal: the police force does not ask for data or money over the phone

The hypothesis of the police is that the perpetrator is a gang specialized in these types of scams, organized and able to carefully select its potential victims. The only thing that is certain is that Bergamo has seen a resurgence of the phenomenon of telephone scams in recent weeks. For days, reports have been arriving at the police station or at the provincial police headquarters from citizens who claim to have been called to their homes by self-styled policemen or carabinieri.

“We are the police – the tenor of the phone call -, your son was involved in an accident. To avoid getting into trouble it is necessary to pay this sum as soon as possible, the lawyer will come by to collect it from your home”. The phrase represents just one of the examples of a telephone trap, used to trap the unfortunate person in question. Especially elderly people who live alone end up targeted by criminals. Most of the reports concern the Orobic capital, but there is no shortage of similar cases in the provincial territory.

“The phenomenon is worrying – underlines the police commissioner of Bergamo, Stanislao Schimera –. I want to launch an appeal to citizens and invite them to be careful, to pay maximum attention. We police forces do not ask users for information on the telephone, we do not ask for data or personal documents, let alone we do not make requests for money of any kind and for any reason. A phone call from self-styled police officers demanding personal data or, worse, money or valuable goods, must immediately alert us to the clear intent scammer of the person on the other end of the phone. So it’s a good idea to hang up and contact us immediately.”

The excuses adopted by the scammers are the most varied, but lately the one that prevails is that of the relative in difficulty to be helped immediately, with a payment of money in cash or, in the absence of banknotes immediately available, even with the hand delivery of jewels and objects of value present in the house. Unfortunately in recent days someone fell into the trap and only realized the deception after handing over valuables.