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Lawyer arrested over Geneva murder of ex-wife

Police arrested a 35-year-old lawyer from Vienna who is suspected of shooting dead his ex-wife in a Geneva apartment building over the weekend, cantonal authorities said.

Published: 16 June 2014 10:24 CEST
Lawyer arrested over Geneva murder of ex-wife
Photo: Geneva cantonal police

Officers arrested the suspect on Saturday at the scene after his 42-year-old former spouse died, the Geneva prosecutor's office said in a news release.

The office has detained him, pending enquiries being led by prosecutor Anne Jung Bourquin.

The alleged murder took place in the centre of Geneva, the prosecutor's office said.

The office said it was not making further comment on the affair.

The couple had apparently been arguing for years.

They had originally lived, according to Austrian media reports, in St. Gallen but then had separated and divorced.

The lawyer moved to Germany, while the woman and her children moved to Geneva.

Swiss authorities had previously imposed a restraining order on the man because of his behaviour towards his ex-wife.

On Saturday night, there was apparently a violent confrontation between the ex-spouses in the house where the women — originally from Mexico — lived with her children.

The lawyer allegedly fired four shots in the stairwell of the apartment building.

The victim was so badly injured that she died immediately.

Austrian consular representatives in Switzerland have been informed of the case, according to a spokesperson for the foreign ministry in Vienna.

"The relevant Austrian citizens will be looked after by the consul," he said. 

Read more stories from The Local Austria here

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.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of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”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