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Swiss coach made covert videos of 80 primary school children in changing rooms

The 21-year-old football coach secretly filmed children from at least five primary schools between November 2017 and December 2018 at a swimming pool in the canton of Lucerne.

Published: 18 April 2019 11:14 CEST
Updated: 18 April 2019 12:34 CEST

Swiss coach made covert videos of 80 primary school children in changing rooms

Photo: Grigorenko/Depositphotos

The man, who has been arrested, used his mobile phone to film children in the changing rooms, the pool and the showers in public swimming pools in Horw and in Mooshüsli near the town of Emmen.

Children from five primary schools in the region have been identified in the videos, according to a report (DE) by regional daily Luzerner Zeitung. Simon Kopp, a spokesman for the Lucerne public prosecutor's office, reportedly confirmed the findings of the daily's investigation.

The man was arrested after taking pictures in a pool in Emmen with his cell phone hidden. The device positioned by him was discovered by a pool user and handed over to the cashier at a public swimming pool in Emmen, in the district of Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne. The 21-year-old suspect, a football coach, was arrested and later confessed to having made the videos, according to the public prosecutor's spokesman.

READ ALSO: 75-year-old woman who killed seven-year-old boy in Basel did not know victim

The accused was removed from his position and banned from participating in any sport-related activity in the region.

The public prosecutor has ruled out the possibility of any sexual assault. The authorities have also ascertained that the videos were not shared online, according to the daily. Because of the low resolution of the videos, the authorities are still trying to identify many of the children concerned.

The parents of the affected children were informed this week, reports Berner Zeitung. According to that daily, the man had installed several hidden cameras in the changing rooms. The investigation is ongoing.

READ MORE: Switzerland to impose lifetime ban for paedophiles on working with children

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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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