Posted 4 May OH had one of these yesterday, quite agressive and threatening. Supposedly your ID is being used for criminal purposes. Ignore. https://www.sir-apfelot.de/betrug-telefonanruf-von-europol-wegen-missbrauch-meines-personalausweises-41359/ 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 6 May I’m currently getting 6or 7 of these a day. I’ve never previously had problems with spam calls in Germany, and these are driving me crazy! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 May Last week I received such a call, allegedly from Europol. The caller claimed to be a member of an international team in Berlin but couldn't speak German. He warned me that my Personalausweis had been used for fraudulent activity, but didn't even know my name. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 May I got one recorded call yesterday. I cut the call after 10-15 sec. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 May I keep getting calls on my Handy and no one says anything. The number is sometimes there and sometimes it isn’t. I got one yesterday and then a half hour later got a message that I have a message and to click to get the message. I deleted and blocked of course, but I am really getting sick of these calls! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 May Most often they claim to be 'The American federal police' (which does not exist, well sort of, but is never described or introduced as such), investigating a criminal matter in Berlin and are working with Europol. My German national identity number has been used in criminal activities. Yesterday, I was called again for the third of fourth time this week. The lad on the phone said he was the German federal police, but is not allowed to speak German as the call was being recorded. As I used to be 'American federal police' and had a wee bit of time, I did play along on one of the calls. 20-30min of fun was had! Seriously though, when these people ring you up, make note of the mobile number and provide it to your local police. It does help them compile the data (forwarded to the LKA & BKA) to eventually stop it or minimise it. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 May Maybe we should congratulate the callers on changing jobs from Microsoft to Beamter. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 May I got one from an India saying my computer was infected, I tried to keep him on the line for as long as possible, perhaps 5min, when he hung up. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May Why do you guys answer? Genuine question. By comparing the number in the original news article, it looks like I also received a bunch of these calls 2 weeks ago. I also received a bunch of calls from a New York number last week. But if my phone doesn't recognise the number (either from my contact list or google caller ID), then I don't answer. Anyone legit should either leave a voicemail or send an sms/whatsapp. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 1 hour ago, theGman said: . But if my phone doesn't recognise the number (either from my contact list or google caller ID), then I don't answer. That´s annoying. Especially if you don´t call back immediately, leaving the caller in limbo or don´t even have your voice mail activated. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 1 hour ago, theGman said: Why do you guys answer? Genuine question. By comparing the number in the original news article, it looks like I also received a bunch of these calls 2 weeks ago. I also received a bunch of calls from a New York number last week. But if my phone doesn't recognise the number (either from my contact list or google caller ID), then I don't answer. Anyone legit should either leave a voicemail or send an sms/whatsapp. I don't use caller ID because you agree to share all your contacts with the third-party company and that I am not comfortable doing. Any unknown number can be a delivery guy, insurance company, or Finanzamt: most calls I get are genuine. Some can be scams, I accept that. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 18 minutes ago, yourkeau said: I don't use caller ID because you agree to share all your contacts with the third-party company and that I am not comfortable doing. Any unknown number can be a delivery guy, insurance company, or Finanzamt: most calls I get are genuine. Some can be scams, I accept that. Well, I guess if you don't have caller ID then you are limited. Delivery guy - I know when I am waiting for a particular delivery to arrive, in that case I'll answer. Insurance company - caller ID, voicemail, email, post Finanzamt - caller ID, voicemail, email, post I'm picking nits, but honestly, I cannot think of a time in the last 10 years that I got a call from an unknown number that turned out to be anything useful/genuine. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 1 hour ago, yourkeau said: Any unknown number can be a delivery guy, insurance company, or Finanzamt: most calls I get are genuine. Some can be scams, I accept that. I have a couple of friends and a mother in law who don't use caller I.D. so I don't block anonymous numbers but very few scammers do not provide caller ID (invariably fake) because they know some people will block them if they don't! The Microsoft scammers usually use a range of German numbers for calls they make here. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 9 May 3 hours ago, theGman said: I'm picking nits, but honestly, I cannot think of a time in the last 10 years that I got a call from an unknown number that turned out to be anything useful/genuine. But you'll never know and life goes on so no loss. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted Thursday at 7:15 AM Call Centre Revenge A Youtube link. Mark Rober, the glitter bomb genius, has gone after some India call centers. The revenge part is good, but there is a part of the video discussing what one brings financially per day. Roughly 62K USD! Per day! A 26min video... fun and enlightening. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted Thursday at 8:11 AM Hehe I got this too, but as a robo voicemail. I barely get calls and ignore most unknown numbers. The lady got one, and actually pressed a button before hanging up. I hope that didn't trigger anything. The problem is that she DID lose her ID card a few months ago, so she was quite unsure. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
