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CRIME

Italian research student slain in Geneva street

Police have opened a murder investigation after a 29-year-old Italian doctoral student at the University of Geneva was battered to death on the street on Monday night.

Published: 14 April 2016 08:48 CEST
Italian research student slain in Geneva street
The attack happened near Geneva's university hospital HUG. File Photo: Julien Gregario

The victim was walking on a residential street close to the university hospital HUG at around 11pm on Monday night when she was attacked, reported 24 Heures.

Hit several times on the head with an iron bar, she died at the scene from her injuries.

Speaking to newspaper 24 Heures, a man who lives in the neighbourhood said: “I saw the body on the ground and the paramedics trying to revive her as I walked home just after 11pm.”

Paramedics spent 45 minutes trying to save her, he said.

The victim was an Italian national from Turin who was in Geneva to pursue a doctorate in medicine at the university, said 24 Heures.

One of her professors confirmed her death to the paper.

“We have very little information but we are very much in shock and extremely sad,” he said.

According to the paper, the victim was just a few metres from her home when she was attacked.

The perpetrator, believed to be known to the victim, is thought to be a man of African origin, aged between 20 to 30 years old and about 1.90m tall.

The public prosecutor has opened a murder investigation and is appealing for witnesses to catch the man, who is still at large.

Anyone with information should contact police on 022 427 7240.

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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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