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Updated: Swiss cash delivery driver pays ‘millions’ to free daughter kidnapped in France

Robbers posing as plumbers kidnapped the daughter of a cash van driver and demanded the vehicle's contents as ransom in a heist that could have netted them over 20 million euros, investigators said Friday.

Published: 9 February 2018 13:37 CET
Updated: 9 February 2018 16:38 CET
Updated: Swiss cash delivery driver pays 'millions' to free daughter kidnapped in France
Illustration photo: AFP
The hold-up, which resembles the plot of a Hollywood action movie, took place on Thursday near the French-Swiss border.
   
It began in the evening in the southeastern French city of Lyon, where two men pretending to be plumbers kidnapped a young woman from her apartment, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
   
They bundled her into a car and then had accomplices ring her father, who works for a Swiss company that transports money between companies and banks, to demand a ransom.
   
The father, who lives in the French border town of Annemasse, was carrying out a cash delivery when the call came through, Europe 1 radio reported.
   
He agreed to meet the kidnappers in a car park just across the border on the Swiss side, to hand over the van's contents, investigators said.
   
Police in the Swiss canton of Vaud said that the father was en route to Lausanne when he was forced to exit the motorway and head for the car park where he was met by robbers wearing gloves and balaclavas.
 
Daughter found by roadside 
 
“There, several armed men who were awaiting the van made him park it. They then held up the delivery drivers, completely emptied the van's contents and fled in a dark-coloured Porsche SUV,” the Swiss police said in a statement on Friday.
   
A French police source told AFP that the van was carrying “between 20 and 30 million Swiss francs (17-26 million euros, $21-32 million)”.
   
A spokesman for the police in Vaud refused to confirm the amount.
   
The driver's daughter, who is in her twenties, was found unharmed at around 10pm on a road on the outskirts of Lyon.
   
She was questioned by police on Friday and said to be still in a state of shock.
   
“We have no reason to question her story,” a French source with knowledge of the investigation said, adding that police suspected a criminal gang.
   
No arrests have been made yet in the probe, which is being led by French police.
   
Swiss police said they were looking for three men with accented French, “maybe from the south of France or North Africa” and called on any witnesses to come forward.
   
“Many details remain unexplained,” the French source said, adding that the investigation was expected to take some time.
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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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