In its daily report, North Zealand police said the elderly man, who lives in the town of Værløse, received a phone call on Thursday afternoon from a person who introduced himself as “Tom” and claimed to be from the bank.
He told the 86-year-old that his bank card had been “hacked” but that he could help resolve the problem – a common approach used by phone scammers to trick targets into handing over bank cards or sensitive information.
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“Tom” instructed the man to place his bank card in an envelope and leave it under his front door mat, after which it would be collected. He said a man from the bank would then come to collect the card.
Finding this suspicious, the 86-year-old got in touch with North Zealand Police and, working with them, placed an envelope – sans bank card – under his mat.
Just under two hours later, a 41-year-old man from Copenhagen arrived at the address to collect the envelope – to be greeted by waiting police.
He was arrested on the spot, North Zealand Police said.
In general, police advise ignoring and deleting suspicious calls and texts and state that authorities will never ask you to click a link on which to enter personal information.
If you are in doubt, show the text to someone you trust or, in the case of a phone call, ask for their advice before acting on it.
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