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CRIME

Fury as Swiss website targets foreign criminals

Lawyers in Zurich are filing a complaint against the owner of a Swiss website for public incitement to crime and violence against suspected criminals of foreign origin.

Willi Frommenwiler, president of the Bern Car Party (Auto-Partei) which promotes the rights of car drivers, is being taken to court over controversial material posted on his website, kriminelle-auslaender.ch (criminal-foreigners), online news website 20 Minutes reported.

The website seeks to make public any photographs or descriptions of foreigners suspected of committing crimes in Switzerland. The pictures had been downloaded from cantonal police sites.

In a Western-like fashion, the words “Wanted – dead or alive” were written across each of the photographs, the newspaper reported. At the time of writing, it appears that these words have been removed.

The site criticises the media and politicians for not taking seriously the problem of crime committed by foreigners and for concealing the facts. The text goes on to remind the reader that foreigners have murdered citizens, raped Swiss girls, and committed fraud.

“This is extreme, and criminal charges should be brought,” Christine Egerszegi, Councillor of the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland, told the newspaper.

The website has angered politicians from other quarters too: Geri Müller from the Green Party criticised the promotion of vigilante justice; Swiss People’s Party member Ulrich Giezendanner and Social Democrat Chantal Galladé said that such agitation against foreigners could not be tolerated.

But Frommenwiler said he does not understand the fuss.

“I do not want to shoot anybody,” he told 20 Minutes.

This is not the first time that Frommenwiler has been in trouble with the law for racist material. He posted an article on the Car Party website entitled, “The Blacks of Thunersee”, in which he claimed that “in Switzerland at the end of 2007 there were almost 41,000 primates in the asylum field.”

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CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

'Your permit is invalid': Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

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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