Police arrest four suspects in Hermagor bank scam

Four men were arrested after a 69-year-old man in the Hermagor district was tricked into transferring a five-figure sum, ORF reported. The suspects had posed as bank employees and later tried to collect his bank card and PIN.

The victim received a phone call on September 29. The callers claimed his account had been hacked and that unauthorised withdrawals had already been made. They persuaded him to make four transfers to Austrian bank accounts, causing losses in the five-figure range, according to police.

A caller posing as a bank employee then told the man to leave his bank card and PIN outside his home for collection. Suspicious, he reported the incident to Hermagor police.

Police arrested four suspects near the house at about 2 a.m. on September 30 during a coordinated operation. The men are aged 20 and 21 and live in Vienna, police said. A fifth person who was also at the scene to collect the card fled. A search for that person has so far been unsuccessful.

On the order of the Klagenfurt public prosecutor’s office, the four arrested men were taken to Klagenfurt prison.