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CRIME

Second Swiss citizen arrested in connection with Scandinavian hiker murders

A second Swiss citizen has been arrested in Morocco in connection to the murder of two female Scandinavian hikers in the Atlas mountains.

Published: 11 January 2019 14:59 CET
Second Swiss citizen arrested in connection with Scandinavian hiker murders
FADEL SENNA / AFP

The man, a British-Swiss dual national, was arrested in Témara, north of Casablanca, on Thursday according to Moroccan newspaper 360.

His role in the murders is as yet unknown.

Swiss Federal Police have confirmed his arrest but said they had not been asked to investigate him, adding that he had been residing in Morocco and had not been in Switzerland recently.

He is the second Swiss citizen to be arrested in relation to the murder of Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland who were found dead in the High Atlas, south of Marrakesh on December 17th.

The first, a 25-year-old dual Swiss-Spanish national, was arrested on December 29.

The first man, who grew up in Geneva, believed “he had demons in his head who were telling them what to do” and that “thanks to the Koran he had managed finally learned to control them”, according to Spain's El Mundo newspaper.

Read More: Swiss suspect in murder of Scandanavian hikers ‘had psychiatric problems’ 

The first suspect has a criminal record in Switzerland but is not suspected of taking part in the murders. 

Instead, Morocco's central office for judicial investigations believes he may have taught some of those arrested in the case about communication tools and new technology.

According to Moroccan authorities, he may have trained the murderers in marksmanship.

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.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of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”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