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Revealed: the surprising extent of petty theft in Switzerland

While people in Switzerland have a reputation for being a law-abiding bunch, a new survey reveals a surprisingly high rate of petty theft in the country.

Published: 30 January 2019 18:34 CET
Revealed: the surprising extent of petty theft in Switzerland
One in eight adults in Switzerland say they have stolen from a supermarket. File photo: Depositphotos

Just under half (49 percent) of adults in Switzerland have deliberately not paid for something at least once in their lives, according to the survey by financial comparison website moneyland.ch. 

The finding is based on the results of a representative and anonymous online survey completed by 1,500 adults in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. 

The poll reveals that supermarkets are one of the main targets for petty theft. Around one in eight people (12 percent) said they had stolen from the supermarket giant Migros while 11 percent said they had done so from Migros' main competitor Coop. 

Read also: How 'stealing' a packet of grated cheese ended up costing one pensioner thousands of francs

Eight percent of survey respondents also said they had intentionally failed to pay for items while using self-service checkouts. But moneyland.ch director told Swiss daily Tages Anzeiger this figure was likely to be closer to 15 percent as not all survey respondents had actually used these increasingly popular checkouts. 

The survey also reveals that 13 percent of people have deliberately not paid hotel bills, while that figure is the same for restaurants. 

And it’s not just people on lower incomes who are responsible for these figures.

According to the survey, the percentage of people doing a runner at restaurants was highest (21 percent) in the group with assets of 300,000 to 500,000 Swiss francs. 

It's a similar story when it comes to people who have, on at least one occasion, used public transport after deciding not to buy a ticket. While the overall figure for all wealth groups was 34 percent, it was 39 percent for millionaires.

Meanwhile, just under 5 percent of all survey respondents said they 'often' travelled without a valid ticket.

The survey also found that men are more likely to have deliberately stolen or not paid for something than women (52 percent against 46 percent).  

Younger people are also more likely to offend (or to admit they have offended in an online survey). Only 31 percent of people aged 18–25 said they had never stolen while that figure was 49 percent among 26 to 49-year-olds and 60 percent for people aged from 50 to 75. 

But the differences between the French- and German-speaking parts of the country were minor in terms of the percentage of people who had never deliberately failed to pay for something (53 percent versus 50 percent).

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. 
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