Scammers are very imaginative — and increasingly more sophisticated as well — about tricking their victims into parting with their money.

These are the two latest ones spreading throughout Switzerland right now that should set off alarm bells in your head.

Suspicious SMS messages, allegedly from the Post Office

Scammers have been sending thousands of fraudulent messages to Swiss mobile phone numbers, posing as the Post Office.

They inform recipients that a package addressed to them is being held at the post office and can’t be delivered “due to unclear address information.”

A service fee of 27 cents will be charged for the new distribution, which can be paid online by credit card.

(A variation of this scam has also been sent to email addresses, allegedly from DHL delivery service).

This message should raise suspicion for two reasons, according to Tobias Lang, a spokesperson for the Post Office. 

One, because the provided link doesn’t end with ‘post.ch’, ‘poste.ch’, ‘posta.ch’, or ‘swisspost.ch’.

And two, the Swiss Post Office “never asks its customers to provide personal security information such as passwords or credit card data by email, SMS or telephone.”

Also, the amount of 27 cents is strange. It was set deliberately low, so that as many people as possible will pay it without becoming suspicious about it, Lang said.

Even if it only a small number of people are fooled into responding, this scam “already becomes profitable for the hackers. Because sending SMS costs almost nothing, the profit should be achieved relatively quickly,” according to the Federal Office for Cybersecurity. 

The radio and television fee scam

All households in Switzerland must  pay the annual television tax of 335 francs, so invoices for this fee may not immediately (or ever) raise any suspicions.

Except that these bills don’t come from the official collecting agency, Serafe, but rather from fraudsters.

However, even though at first glance these invoices appear to be legitimate, if you are vigilant you will see that they come not from Serafe, but from Searfe — a deliberate misspelling and a sure sign that you should disregard this bill and not pay it.

You can see the list of all current scams circulating in Switzerland here. 

What should you do (and not do) if you receive either of the above-mentioned scam attempts?

First and foremost, don’t reveal any personal information and, even less so, your credit card number or any other financial details.

This advice, which comes from the Swiss Crime Prevention service, applies to all scam attempts that try to extort money from you.

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