Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Undercover police catch Zurich pizza gang

Officers arrested three teenagers in Zurich after an undercover operation exposed a gang terrorizing pizza delivery men, Zurich police said on Wednesday.

Published: 4 September 2014 10:38 CEST
Undercover police catch Zurich pizza gang
Photo: Matt Chan

The operation aimed to catch the culprits of three attacks on pizza delivery men in Zurich’s district three in the past few weeks.

In each instance, the gang ordered a pizza and then used baseball bats and pepper spray to attack the delivery man on arrival at the given address, before stealing his money, mobile phone and pizzas.

On Tuesday night, a police officer stood in for the courier after the pizza restaurant took a late-night order for an address in the Friesenberg area.

Arriving at the specified property at around 11.30pm, the undercover police officer was confronted by several hooded youths.

When other officers intervened, the gang attacked them with baseball bats and pepper spray.   

Three police officers were slightly injured in the incident.

In a statement, police confirmed the arrests at the scene of three teenagers aged 16, 17 and 19.

Several other members of the gang escaped.

Speaking to newspaper 20 Minuten, a local resident said he saw several police cars and around 15 police officers outside the property on Tuesday night.

He described seeing a police officer give chase to a youth trying to flee over a barrier.

“I am shocked to know that such things go on in this neighbourhood,” he said.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

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

SHOW COMMENTS