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CRIME

Mafia suspects refuse to leave Switzerland

Switzerland cannot extradite two alleged mobsters to Italy because they don’t want to go.

Published: 17 March 2016 12:49 CET
Mafia suspects refuse to leave Switzerland
Photo: Roland Fischer/File

The duo, suspected of being members of a Swiss-based cell of the powerful Italian crime organization ‘Ndrangheta, have refused to be extradited.

Since they are naturalized Swiss, they cannot be extradited against their will, the Swiss federal justice office said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the ministry, the additional 15 alleged ‘Ndrangheta members arrested in Switzerland on March 8th – who are all Italian – are also refusing to be extradited to Italy, as requested by Rome.

Twelve of them were detained in the northern canton of Thurgau, one in the neighbouring canton of Zurich and two in the Valais.

Italian police believe the ‘Ndrangheta group – which they describe as the most active, richest and most powerful crime syndicate in Europe – uses legitimate activities in northern Italy to recycle the huge amounts of cash generated by their drugs business.

In the statement, the Swiss said they must now examine if Italy’s request meets the conditions demanded by the European convention on extradition.

Switzerland is obliged to extradite the two suspects arrested in the canton of Valais since they were already sentenced to nine and six years jail respectively by a court in Reggio Calabria, Southern Italy, in 2014 for offences committed in Italy.

Twelve of the group have been released on bail, since the justice ministry “judges that the flight risk is slim”.

In their case, there is no obligation for the Swiss to comply with Italy’s extradition request since their alleged offences were committed in Switzerland.

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Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.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