Sixty top-of-the-range cars were impounded from a luxury car dealership earlier this week after the company went bankrupt. Now the dealership's customers, including several top footballers, fear their cars could be confiscated too.

 

"/> Sixty top-of-the-range cars were impounded from a luxury car dealership earlier this week after the company went bankrupt. Now the dealership's customers, including several top footballers, fear their cars could be confiscated too.

 

" />
Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FOOTBALL

Footballers fear losing luxury cars

Sixty top-of-the-range cars were impounded from a luxury car dealership earlier this week after the company went bankrupt. Now the dealership's customers, including several top footballers, fear their cars could be confiscated too.

 

Published: 10 June 2011 12:14 CEST

Self-proclaimed “car king” Riccardo S., owner of SAR Premium Cars in the Aargau canton, attempted to block the 17 articulated trucks that were sent to pick up the luxury cars, but following a brief fight with one of the drivers, he fled and has since disappeared.

Now several of his customers, including high-ranking politicians, businessmen and Swiss Super League footballers, fear the cars they bought or leased from Riccardo S. will be impounded too, and their down payments and deposits will be forfeited.

“I had a BMW from him, and had to wait a year to get my deposit back,” one player told Swiss daily Blick anonymously. “But footballing colleagues of mine are still involved, and they will lose a lot of money.”

“I leased a BMW X5 for my wife there,” said Grasshopper-Club Zurich coach Ciriaco Sforza. “I was informed of the case and had to check my documents. But everything seems to be in order. My bank has assured me of that.”

Blick described the list of Riccardo’s customers as “a Who’s Who of Swiss football.” Riccardo’s remaining luxury cars are expected to be impounded in the next few weeks. 

The Local/bk

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.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