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Thailand to extradite Swiss child molester

A 56-year-old man from St Gallen who abused his daughter and her friend over a period of years is to be extradited from Thailand.

Published: 8 March 2013 13:26 CET
Thailand to extradite Swiss child molester
The child molester will soon be behind bars in Switzerland. Photo: Stockers9

Tages-Anzeiger said the recipient of invalidity benefit, who fled to Thailand in 2011 to avoid incarceration, had agreed to be returned home.

The sex offender had been sentenced to six years by a St Gallen court on multiple counts of rape, incent and sexual assault.

He was arrested in January and is now in a Thai jail awaiting deportation.

The paper quoted Federal Office of Justice spokesman Folco Galli as saying that the Thai authorities had approved the Swiss extradition request.

Since the end of February the extradition decision was “legally valid and enforceable”.

The spokesman said that for security reasons the deportation would only be announced once the convicted child molester had been extradited.

“The form of transportation will take account of his poor state of health,” the paper quoted Galli as saying.

The man is obese, suffering from a metabolic disease.

According to Joe Keel, head of the St Gallen prison office, the convicted criminal’s return flight has already been booked.

Two police officers and one ‘medically trained person’ would be sent from Switzerland to the airport in Bangkok to collect him.

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For members

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
Updated: 2 May 2024 15:04 CEST
'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Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”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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