As part of its “Coffee with Cops” campaign, the police are focusing on prevention in the fight against fraud. Senior citizens in particular should be addressed and sensitized. The most common professional scam in this population group is the “fake police officer”. 80 percent of the victims of this trick are over 75 years of age. This year more than 1000 cases of this scam have been reported, the loss is of 70 million Euros.
Last year 51,900 crimes of fraud were registered in Austria. Of these, more than 23,800 were committed online, often using digital devices such as cell phones and mostly via SMS or messaging services such as WhatsApp. The numbers are exploding: In the first half of the year, Internet fraud increased by 30 percent compared to the same period last year.
Very difficult area of investigation for the police. Criminals often operate internationally and often from abroad.
