Originally Posted by
Clop_Clop
C... Has to be fraud so at least should be a police case and they could start digging, fraudsters belong in jail with a long sentence.
Entirely agree, but don't recall ever reading of a successful investigation: now and again there are arrests of the so-called "lover-boys" but not these out-and-out fraudsters.
I'm not sure if it has been happening in the UK, but for some years there have been fairly unsophisticated telephone scams perpetrated in Germany, where a crook phones up someone and pretends to be their grandson/daughter ( victims are selected by those with old-fashioned names in phone-book, therefore likely to be elderly ). They then spin a story about being in a car accident and need to pay a fine to stay out of jail and it seems this often works. There was one particular gang that pulled this stunt and consisted of second or third-generation German/Turks who were based in Turkey - may have been arrested.