Hello, fellow Germans and Americans with German ancestors,
I hope you are enjoying your daily dose of the Neuland.
My mother-in-law (speaks no German or English and is new to Germany) has just contacted me because nefarious amounts were debited from her account without authorisation.
As I am writing, we’re waiting to speak to a bank teller – but the problematic part is, that the deductions each came from a different IBAN. However, the “Verwendungszweck” (Booking Reference) of the transactions is amazingly similar.
1x 59,70€ for **”Ihre Kundennr.: 72630(…) Beitrag SchutzPlus. Bei Fragen Telefon 052130530173″**
1x 29,90€ for **”Ihre Kundennr: 9255(…) Beitrag Efory. Bei Fragen Telefon 052130530173″**
As you can see, the number is registered to Bielefeld.
My mother-in-law hasn’t got a clue what “Schutzplus” is, and “Efory” either.
Now, I would have assumed that she had ticked a box somewhere when she wanted a free trial offer – as it is quite common with people who are not entirely tech-savvy – but I am very surprised that two entirely different IBANs and customer numbers want to debit two very different products.
I only found this entry\* on the internet – have you had anything taken from your account this way? I would be interested to know if this is the start of a new scam in Germany or if it has been going on for a while.
\* [https://www.tellows.de/num/052130530175](https://www.tellows.de/num/052130530175)
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by betterbait
2 comments
The first google hit for the number is a site from Mediamarkt for their insurance offers. Is your MIL sure that she didn’t buy anything from there and got the insurance that they try to sell you all the time?
Did she buy something (like an e-book-reader or a tablet) at Mediamarkt in the last days? It looks like an insurance for an electronic device and an e-book-subscription or something like that.