US investigators on Tuesday lodged a legal complaint against a Credit Suisse banker for fraud while working for UBS, a week after indicting four of his colleagues.

"/> US investigators on Tuesday lodged a legal complaint against a Credit Suisse banker for fraud while working for UBS, a week after indicting four of his colleagues.

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Swiss banker in US tax probe

US investigators on Tuesday lodged a legal complaint against a Credit Suisse banker for fraud while working for UBS, a week after indicting four of his colleagues.

Published: 2 March 2011 10:03 CET

US investigators on Tuesday lodged a legal complaint against a Credit Suisse banker for fraud while working for UBS, a week after indicting four of his colleagues, according to court documents.
 

The criminal complaint against Christos Bagios, 45, a Greek citizen residing in Switzerland, says he secretly helped wealthy US clients conceal their earnings in Swiss bank accounts while employed at UBS from 1999 to 2005.
 

Arrested on January 25 upon his entry into the United States, he was implicated by a colleague who was arrested in November and pled guilty to the same acts.
 

The former colleague, Renzo Gadola, admitted to helping Americans conceal their earnings from tax authorities by stashing them in Swiss accounts, according to the complaint filed at a US district court in Florida.
 

Gadola said Bagios “had approximately 100 to 150 undeclared United States clients with total assets under management of approximately $400 million to $500 million,” according to the complaint.
 

Four other Credit Suisse employees were indicted on similar charges on February 24, but the bank itself has not been implicated.
 

UBS, one of Switzerland’s largest banks, had its reputation tarnished by a US fraud investigation launched in 2008 that eventually prosecuted the bank, forcing it to pay a $780 million fine and hand over client names.

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CRIME

How to avoid the ‘police’ phone scam in Switzerland

The Swiss government has issued a warning about an increasing number of fake calls purporting to be from police. But there are ways to avoid this scam.

Published: 18 April 2024 13:20 CEST
How to avoid the 'police' phone scam in Switzerland

Switzerland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has been monitoring the phenomenon of fake calls from alleged police authorities for nine months now.

But in the last three weeks, reports of this scam have almost tripled, the NCSC said, indicating just how widespread it is.

What is this about?

The scam begins with a call coming, allegedly, from police or another Swiss authority.

A voice, which the NCSC describes as ‘robotic’, informs the person who answers the call that their personal banking data is involved in criminal activities, or makes a similar alarming (but false) claim.

According to the NCSC, “it is not a person who calls, but a software The machine randomly tries Swiss phone numbers throughout the day. If the number is invalid, it simply moves on to the next one.”

“By using this software, the number of calls that can be made is virtually unlimited. It could go through practically all the phone numbers in Switzerland in a day,” the Centre adds.

After raising alarm about your bank account, the fake ‘policeman’ will urge you to “press 1” to be put in touch with a human being and obtain more information.

If you do this and, worse yet, divulge your personal data to the caller, you risk having your computer and credit card hacked.

What should you do (and not do) if you get this call?

The most obvious answer is to immediately hang up because, as the NCSC explains, “real police never play recorded phone messages. They also never ask for money or sensitive personal data over the phone.”

To that end, the Centre recommends that anyone receiving this call: 

  • Should hang up as soon as you hear the recorded message
  • Not press 1, or any other numbers, during the telephone conversation
  • Not get drawn into a conversation.
  • Never grant access to your computer, not even via remote maintenance software.
  • Never reveal prepaid card activation codes.

A fake tax refund

While the ‘police scam’ is the latest attempt at extortion reported to the NCSC, it is far from a unique case.

Scores of them are reported to the authorities each year, including the one reported earlier in 2024.

It involved phishing emails about alleged tax refund entitlements.

However, the link in the email leads to a phishing page. 

Here too, authorities advise to ignore these emails, not click on the link, and not enter any personal data on the phishing page.

READ ALSO : The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of

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