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CRIME

Stabbing murder of Pole declared ‘cold case’

Just ahead of his retirement Philippe Vautier, chief prosecutor for the northern part of the canton of Vaud, has officially closed the books on an investigation into a sensational murder case — without finding a suspect.

Stabbing murder of Pole declared 'cold case'
Investigator's issued this photo of a tattoo on the victim's body. Photo: Vaud cantonal police

The mysterious case dates back to October 27th 210 in the municipality of Montagny-près-Yverdon when the nude body of a Polish man was found covered in knife wounds.

The 36-year-old man, who had been visiting Switzerland as a tourist, was murdered elsewhere before his body was moved to the community near Yverdon-les-Bains.

The murder is the only “cold case” in the canton of Vaud in the past 20 years, 20 Minutes newspaper reported on Monday.

The victim’s identity was not immediately known but a ring on one of his fingers, inscribed with the name of his wife, Agnieszka, allowed investigators to identify him 24 days later.

A silversmith’s hallmark on the ring identified it as Polish made.

In Poland, an appeal was launched for information along with a photo of the victim, which resulted in the man’s widow contacting police.

The couple had a child and the widow explained that her husband had gone to Switzerland with a friend, according to police reports.

Police tracked down the friend but he was cleared of any connection to the homicide, 20 Minutes said.

The man’s identity was confirmed by through a check of dental records by forensic scientists in Lausanne at a university centre (CURML).

But without any leads and suspects the investigation wound down.

Now it has been officially filed as an unsolved case, 20 Minutes said.

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.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