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CRIME

Swiss prisons bursting as convict numbers soar

Swiss prisons are bursting at the seams due to a record number of convicts, figures released on Monday show - but the number of juveniles held has fallen by a quarter.

Published: 27 January 2014 12:15 CET
Swiss prisons bursting as convict numbers soar
Sennhof prison in Winterthur. Photo: Xenos/Wikipedia

The country’s adult jails had a total population of 7,072 in September last year, according to the figures from the Federal Statistics Office. The official capacity of Switzerland’s jails is 7,048.

Most of those being held were convicts – 3,667 people, or 51 percent of the total prison population. This represents a 35 percent rise in the number of convicted prisoners since 1999. 30 percent of prisoners were on remand, a two percent rise.

Of prisoners on remand, only 18 percent had Swiss nationality. The majority were illegal immigrants, while a fifth were foreigners with Swiss residence permits and 8 percent were asylum seekers. Swiss law dictates that suspects are only held on remand if there is a risk of them fleeing the country, reoffending or colluding with witnesses.

 

The number of offenders aged under 18 in detention or living in open care homes was 575, down by 9 percent since 2012 and 24 percent since 2011. 91 percent of them were male and 61 percent were Swiss citizens.

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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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.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Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”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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