Brazen fraudsters cheat SMEs with advertising contracts
Suspicious companies from France and Belgium offered advertising contracts to several Swiss firms. They paid the fraudsters several million francs for ads that were never published.
Dubious companies from France and Belgium offered advertising contracts to several Swiss companies. They paid the fraudsters several million francs for advertisements that were never published. The fraudsters informed the companies by fax that an advertising contract existed. They then aggressively demanded that the contract be fulfilled, otherwise they would be threatened with debt collection. Around 20 companies in Lower Valais fell for the scammers and transferred the requested amounts, as the Valais cantonal police confirmed to SDA on Friday. The victims are mainly small and medium-sized businesses such as restaurant operators or garage owners, as Inspector Pierre-Antoine Lengen told SDA on request. The police are currently estimating the amount of the crime at around 5 million francs in Lower Valais alone. However, the whole of French-speaking Switzerland is affected, Lengen continued.
