29 January 21.38, Fraud, Norrköping

Within the span of 24 hours, the Öst police region has received 10 reports of a new-old scam method. Seven cases from Norrköping, two cases from Linköping, and one from Jönköping.

The scammer has posed as a child in order to obtain money in this way. The approach goes as follows: the scammer, via SMS, poses as one's child or grandchild and states, for example, that the mobile phone has broken or that one has been involved in an accident. The scammers then ask for quick help, for example, to send a sum of money or pay a bill.

This time, it has also been extra tricky to see through as the scammers have done in-depth research on the intended victims and have been able to answer control questions when the victims have tried to verify the authenticity of the SMS. The Öst police region has seen both completed scams and attempts at scams and therefore wants to warn and alert the public to this.

Tips for protecting yourself:

• Be suspicious if you receive this type of SMS. Never follow up on requests to send money if you are not completely sure that the person is who they claim to be.
• Always call the number of your child or grandchild first and check if it is really them who sent the SMS.
• Secondly, call the person who sent the SMS and ask control questions to ensure that the person is who they claim to be. Remember not to ask control questions that are easy to find on the internet.