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Man arrested in forest murder case

Police have arrested a man over the killing of a woman found in a forest in Orpund, in the canton of Bern, last week.

Published: 25 July 2016 11:33 CEST

Man arrested in forest murder case

A walker found the woman's body in the forest. File photo: Patrick Nouhailler

The woman was reported to have died of massive blunt force. Her dog was found guarding her body.

20 Minuten said a 38-year-old man had been arrested in the region of Schaffhausen in northeastern Switzerland on Friday night as he was driving the victim’s car.

The illegal immigrant who had a police record was stopped by border guards.

The weapon thought to have been used in the crime was located in the car.

A police spokesman said the motive for the crime was not clear and there were no indications that the man knew the victim.

The 66-year-old woman was named as vet Regina Z. from Brügg in the canton of Bern.

The acquaintance who found the victim’s body in the wood told the Bieler Tagblatt paper that the woman’s dachshund dog had been the most important thing in her life next to her job.

The forest trail is popular with dog walkers and the woman’s death had caused worry among local residents.

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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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