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CRIME

Teen admits to killing father in canton of Zurich

UPDATED: A 19-year-old man has admitted to killing his father, a former newspaper editor, in the apartment they shared in Pfäffikon in the canton of Zurich, police said on Wednesday.

Published: 1 April 2015 14:56 CEST
Teen admits to killing father in canton of Zurich
Photo: Zurich cantonal police

The teen phoned cantonal police on Tuesday at 8.30pm when he confessed to the murder, Zurich police said in a statement.

He turned himself into the police station at Pfäffikon, where he was interviewed and arrested.

Police checked the residence where the teen lived and found his 67-year-old father, who was already dead.

No information was disclosed as to how the man died or what the motive for the killing was.

The 20 Minuten newspaper reported that the victim was a former editor at Neue Zürcher Zeitung who had worked for the last eight years in the PR industry for a communications agency.

(NZZ confirmed that the dead man was a former editor for the Zurich daily.)

The father and son were living together after the mother died several years ago of a serious illness, the newspaper said.

"The father seemed to be very strict with his son," a neighbour told the daily.

The son has no apparent psychological problems, a police spokesman told the SDA news agency.

Investigators are assuming that the son’s admission is a true version of the facts.

However, the cantonal police force and the local prosecutor’s office have launched an investigation into the case in conjunction with forensic scientists. 

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

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Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”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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