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Poles start extradition of Geneva murder suspect

Polish prosecutors on Monday began extradition proceedings against a Swiss-French rapist who is suspected of killing his female therapist and was snared in Poland after a four-day manhunt.

Published: 16 September 2013 18:26 CEST
Poles start extradition of Geneva murder suspect
Murder suspect Fabrice Anthamatten is escorted by police in Szczecin, Poland. Photo: Marcin Bielecki/PAP/AFP

Fabrice Anthamatten, 39, was arrested in the Polish-German border area on Sunday on an international warrant days after he and his therapist went missing in Switzerland during a prison-approved outing.
   
"The prosecutor's office is currently questioning the man," Malgorzata Wojciechowicz, spokeswoman for the regional office in the northwestern city of Szczecin, told AFP.
   
"We're waiting for files from Switzerland to complete the extradition proceedings."
   
German officers arrested Anthamatten in the Polish border village of Kolbaskowo after a cross-border pursuit. They then handed him over to Polish police.
   
Anthamatten — a dual Swiss and French national with a criminal record in both countries —  was arrested behind the wheel of the car in which he was believed to have fled Switzerland on Thursday.
   
He is the prime suspect in the murder of prison therapist Adeline Morel.
   
Her body was found near Geneva on Friday, a day after they left the prison for a trip to a horse-riding centre that was part of Anthamatten's prison therapy.
   
Interpol issued a warrant for him at Switzerland's behest, and police on Friday locked onto the victim's mobile signal near the northern Swiss border city of Basel.

Sniffer dogs then picked up his trail at a train station just inside Germany.
   
Morel, 34 and the mother of an eight-month-old child, had accompanied Anthamatten alone on what was only his second day-release from a Geneva detention facility.
   
Anthamatten was serving 15 years for a rape committed in France while he was on parole in Switzerland, where he had already been sentenced in another rape case.
   
French justice officials had allowed him to be transferred to a Swiss jail to serve his sentence.

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CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: How scammers in Switzerland target foreigners

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
'Your permit is invalid': How scammers in Switzerland target foreigners

A number of foreign nationals, especially in the German-speaking part of the country, have received an official-looking letter, purportedly from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) informing them that the Free Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”

Faced with enquiries from concerned recipients, SEM responded that the letter is fake, advising recipients to ignore it and, above all, not to click on the QR code on the top.

“Fake letters from the SEM have been circulating since the beginning of this week,” the immigration authority said on its website as well as on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The letter has no impact on the recipient’s  residence status,” SEM added.

Fake jobs, real threats

However, this is only the latest scam perpetrated in the name of SEM.

There have been others in the past.

For instance, many foreigners have also received emails from addresses swissimmigration@consultant or eu_immigration@consultant, that pretend to be the Swiss immigration authority.

“In most cases, a fictitious job in the hotel industry is offered, with the senders demanding payment of 300 to 1,000 euros for a permit in Switzerland and for health and accident insurance,” SEM reported.

The first clue that this email doesn’t come from  SEM, which is part of Switzerland’s government, is that it is asking for payment in euros. If the scammers were smarter, they’d demand Swiss francs.

“These e-mails do not come from the SEM and should be considered as an attempt at fraud,” the agency said. 

Extortion attempt

And a few years ago, a number of foreigners received emails coming allegedly from SEM, Swiss border control authorities, or even the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

They threatened to revoke the victim’s residence permit or even expel them from the country altogether if they didn’t pay a certain sum of money into an anonymous account.

Needless to say, no government authority would ever resort to blackmail or demand payment for such ‘services’.

So a good rule to remember (for foreigners and Swiss alike) is that if threats and pressure are involved, letters / emails / phone calls ( WhatsUp messages are more than likely scams.
 
READ ALSO: The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of 

Don’t respond

SEM as well as police urge everyone contacted by scammers, by whatever means to:

  • Ignore these messages by hanging up the phone and / or deleting emails, moving them to the Spam folder
  • Never give out your credit card number or bank account information to people you don’t know
  • If you did give your card number, contact your credit card company immediately to have the card blocked. Likewise, if you gave out your banking details, get in touch with your bank.
  • In the event of threats of extortion attempts, consider filing a criminal complaint. You can search for police stations in your area on the Police website. 
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