How Swiss bank cards got to Africa.
A 55-year-old man hired money launderers.
The 55-year-old Swiss chauffeur is incorrigible: he was already sentenced in March 2020 by the public prosecutor’s office in Winterthur/Unterland for having been an accessory to money laundering on several occasions. He had opened three bank accounts and made them available to internet scammers from Benin. He is said to have believed that he was helping with a fundraiser for a sick woman. Despite this condemnation, he just kept going.
The cantonal public prosecutor’s office III is now responsible for economic crimes, as can be seen from a new penalty order against the Swiss. The accused had met a person on an internet platform who was posing as a woman from Benin. The public prosecutor’s office had already shown him in the first trial, before the conviction, that this identity was a “legend” used by fraudsters. The suspect never met the woman in person.
As a brief research by the NZZ shows, profiles on Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin are still active under the woman’s alleged name, all with pictures of the same young woman. For example, the Linkedin profile says: «Hello. Got a job offer for everyone living in Switzerland. It’s a rewarding job that earns you money every month.”
A marriage and a beautiful legacy in sight
In the first case, customers of Tutti.ch, Anabis.ch or the Facebook marketplace deposited funds into the Swiss bank accounts because they believed they had bought items such as iPhones, drones, Go-Pro cameras or juicers. But these things didn’t even exist. The chauffeur then transferred the money to Benin. The amount of the offense in the previous case: 10,553 francs. The chauffeur was supposedly allowed to keep 10 percent of it.
The 55-year-old was informed about the background of the previous offenses and was legally sentenced for it. Then a man contacted him, posing as the young woman’s alleged lawyer. He explained to the person convicted that the woman would now marry him and would like to travel to Switzerland for this purpose. In addition, the young woman has the prospect of a large inheritance, but various fees would have to be paid for its payment. And for that you need the services of the chauffeur again.
Surprisingly, he had to open a bank account again and send the physical account card to Benin for the attention of a man with an Arabic name. He submitted an application to Migros Bank in December 2020. After suspicious references, the account was blocked again in January 2021. Because the man had already “burned” Raiffeisenbank, ZKB and Credit Suisse in the first case, he opened the next account at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg.
Physical bank cards sent to Benin
According to the second penalty order, he did this “particularly in order not to endanger the promised marriage or the payment of the presumed inheritance”. As ordered, he sent the Migros Bank card to Benin. He also sent a Postfinance card that he received from an unknown person from the canton of Bern to Benin, which the penalty order describes as “completely absurd”.
Between January 6th and 18th, 2021, around 20 transfers were received on the Migros Bank account. Around CHF 5,000 of this was withdrawn from an ATM in Burkina Faso using a bank card. Between January 29 and March 15, 2021, there were a total of 45 money transfers from Internet fraud on the account of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. Around 9,000 francs were withdrawn from ATMs in Africa. According to the penalty order, further funds were sent abroad via a network of “money mules”. The backers are still unknown.
For the new cases, the chauffeur will be fined 170 daily rates of CHF 30 each for multiple forgery of documents and multiple assistance in money laundering. He has to pay these 5100 francs. The earlier conditional fine imposed by the Winterthur/Unterland public prosecutor’s office will also be revoked. These 1800 francs are now also due. In addition, there are CHF 1,000 fees for the preliminary procedure. The new penalty order has also not been contested and is therefore legally binding.