Greece is moving to toughen penalties for telephone scams targeting elderly people, as authorities warn that organized criminal networks are increasingly using deceptive calls to steal cash, jewelry and other valuables.
Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis has described the phenomenon as an āepidemicā and announced plans to change the Criminal Code so that organized telephone fraud can be treated as a felony, with aggravating circumstances when elderly people are targeted.
A specialized police team is also being established within the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime to focus on dismantling the networks behind the scams. Authorities are also planning closer cooperation with banks and the electricity network, both of which are frequently exploited by criminals.
How the Scams Work
The calls are designed to create fear and urgency, leaving victims little time to think or verify the story.
In one common scheme, criminals claim that a victimās child or another relative has been involved in a serious accident and urgently needs money.
Others pose as police officers, doctors, lawyers, accountants or electricity company employees. Victims may be told they need to hand over cash or valuables for supposed medical expenses, tax problems or safety reasons.
Recent cases show the scale of the losses.
In western Greece, an elderly woman was persuaded to hand over ā¬76,500 after scammers posing as electricity company employees claimed there was a dangerous wiring problem at her apartment. They convinced her to leave the money at the entrance of her building, where an accomplice collected it.
In another case, police dismantled a gang accused of making at least ā¬1.6 million in three months by targeting vulnerable people whose details had been obtained from old telephone directories.
From Phone Calls to Organized Crime
Greek police investigations have increasingly revealed that these are not isolated acts carried out by individual scammers.
Criminal groups can have separate members responsible for making the initial calls, persuading victims and collecting the money or valuables. Some operations have even used organized call centers and dedicated teams for different stages of the fraud.
For elderly victims, the financial and emotional consequences can be particularly serious. Criminals often target savings accumulated over decades, as well as gold, jewelry and other valuables kept in the home.
Greece Plans a Tougher Response
The governmentās proposed changes would classify organized telephone fraud as a felony, particularly when elderly people are deliberately targeted.
The new specialized police unit is intended to focus not only on individual arrests but on identifying and dismantling the criminal networks behind the schemes.
The message from Greek authorities is increasingly clear: telephone fraud targeting the elderly is being treated as an organized crime problem rather than simply a series of individual scams.
For people targeted by these calls, the basic warning remains simple: an unexpected demand for money or valuables should never be treated as an emergency without independently verifying who is calling.
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