Fraud: Private individual, Germany 2024
In the Burgenlandkreis, an increasing number of complaints were filed because people had ordered cheap heating oil online, made a down payment and never received the goods.
- Incident · 12.2024 · Saxony-Anhalt (Burgenlandkreis), Germany
- Evidence: confirmed by an authority
- Fraud
As of
What happened
According to the police, behind this was a fake shop based in Berlin that feigned legitimate business practices. The police particularly warn against advance payment and foreign accounts.
- Affected
- Private individual (anonymous)
- Industry
- Private individual
- Loss
- no reliable figure
- Business interruption
- unknown
- Ransom demanded / paid
- unknown / unknown
- Data affected
- unknown
- Bankruptcy
- no
- Entry point
- Fake shop for heating oil at conspicuously low prices with advance payment
What would cyber insurance have paid?
That depends on the terms. Whether those affected were insured: unknown.
-
Paid, but nothing or the wrong thing delivered, fake shop
Mostly covered 24 of 29 private products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
Overview based on public policy terms, as of 06.11.2026. Only your policy and its general terms and conditions (GTC) are binding. No confirmation of cover.
What we can learn
Before paying in advance, check reviews and the warning lists of consumer advice centres, and watch out for a foreign IBAN.
Sources
- Kriminalitäts- und Verkehrslage (Polizeimeldung 258/2024): Warnung vor Fake-Shops (opens in a new window) Polizeirevier Burgenlandkreis · 2024-12-18
«da sich Geschädigte Heizöl zu „günstigen“ Preisen im Internet bestellten, eine Anzahlung leisteten und die Ware nicht geliefert wurde»