Berlin’s Justice Senator Felor Badenberg (CDU) is supporting a Federal Council initiative to protect older people from fraudsters. “Especially in the case of fraud such as the grandparent scam, it is important to be able to determine the identity of possible perpetrators. To do this, you need the right investigative tools, such as the so-called cell phone cell query,” she told the “Berliner Morgenpost”.
With their help, it is possible to determine which cell phones were in which cell at the crime scene. “Such a cell query is currently not possible due to a supreme court decision of the Federal Court of Justice,” said Badenberg. The Federal Court of Justice has ruled that the collection of such traffic data is not permissible in cases of such fraud.
“In this specific case, the data was available, so the perpetrator could have been convicted. But since the data could not be accessed, he had to be let go,” said the Justice Senator. “Such a regulatory gap must not exist. That is why I am introducing a Federal Council initiative to close this regulatory gap.”
In the so-called grandparent scam, fraudsters contact older people by phone or via a messenger service, for example, and pretend to be a close relative. Their aim is to gain the trust of the older person and thus obtain money or valuables.
The senator believes that there is a good chance of a Berlin initiative in the Bundesrat: “I have spoken to one or two colleagues who support this initiative.” There is also no plausible reason why traffic data should not be collected in cases of commercial or gang-related fraud.
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