Telephone scam
A trial in Vevey unveils the profile of two false bankers
The defendants are accused of having stolen 100,000 francs to elders. In front of the court, they explained the reasons for their act.
Prevention messages are increasing against scams in the false banker or the fake police officer who are wreaking havoc.
dr
- Two members of a network of false bankers in Switzerland were sentenced.
- Their trial in Vevey helps to better understand the profile of these criminals.
- The gang leader who was acting by phone from France still runs.
- Thirty victims lost 100’oo0 francs. A party will be reimbursed.
Tuesday, before the Vevey Criminal Court, Rosa* recognizes his crime. From March to October 2023, she acted well on behalf of a network of scam in false bankers Directed from France to steal the elderly in the canton of Vaud and in other French -speaking cantons. The thirties appeared under the false name of Mélanie Bellevue at the victims’ home. She claimed to be sent by their bank who had just contacted them to report a problem to them on their account. The hand woman came to pick up the bank card to solve the problem.
Until then, the voice of the defendant begins to tremble in the court hall when President Franz Moos questions him about the identity of the sponsor. Whoever contacted the elders. The one too who gave the instructions to Rosa, always by phone. At the last moment, she received the name of the victim and her private address. “Who is it?” asked him for the magistrate. The question is moving the young woman: she is afraid and cries. “It’s a man,” she said in a small voice after refusing to answer. She will say no more.
False banker network
Rosa then tries to explain her silence. She knows this individual who has threatened her for so long, she and her relatives. He also continues to do so since his arrest and his detention in October 2023. It was under his constraint that this Frenchwoman born in Marseille says he has taken action. Once, she managed to refuse to participate in a blow in La Neuveville (BE), a third party then replaced it. For the rest, the accused says he had to submit to it. According to her, the unknown chose her because she worked in French -speaking Switzerland as border.
It is up to the court to assess Rosa’s sincerity. However, to hear it, testimony is not without authenticity, on the one hand of truth. It may be one of the teachings of this audience in East Vaudois. Small hands from a network of false bankers could also be partly manipulated. In some cases, the sponsor, the conductor, would terrorize the victims as much as the members of his team on the ground.
Telephone scam
The scam by phone has amplified in the country since 2024. The trick is now publicly known, less the profile of the actors. But more for a long time. Police work is bearing fruit. THE trial – that of Vevey is one of them – which are starting to flower, allow us to better understand who these men and women, often young, are attacking our elders. And to better perceive the mechanism of this type of scam. According to the RTS, the stolen amounts are rising to 3,7 millions In 2024.
Rosa remains worthy after almost 2 years in prison, including 1 year of early execution. In front of the courtyard, she wears white summer clothes. Pink pliers keeps its long black hair back, revealing a face that has not yet entered the thirties. The one who is in the process of divorce says he grew up in the Marseille city. In 2016, she moved to Annemasse to work in Geneva and Lausanne. First in insurance, then catering. Her dream is always to open a beauty institute. She has slight judicial history.
Vevey court
After the first hearing, it is the turn of her accomplice, *Pierre, who seated next to her on the accused’s bench, to answer questions from the court. His role was to withdraw money using the bank card recovered by Rosa. He was also in telephone contact with the network which sent him the code, once arrived in front of the Bancomat. The goal was to empty the account. The gain – thousands of francs in cash – was then put back by hand in French -speaking Switzerland, in a bar or a fast food address. He won 1000 francs per day. Rosa, 450 francs.
Pierre is used to prison. At 30, he already spent ten behind bars. A few months before rating in Switzerland, he had just served 7 years in France for scam. This single -free bachelor was also born in Marseille. “As an unknown father,” he said. He says he grew up in a difficult neighborhood and did not declare vocational training. Man has always lived thanks to the minimum income. A major, he made odd jobs, but admits having quickly fallen into delinquency.
Multi -wrist
The multi -registration also claims to have acted under pressure from the network of false bankers. He had to collaborate there because of a game debt: 15,000 francs lost during a game of poker of several days. “I fell in debt with bad people, who do not forget easily,” he explains without saying more. He and his family were also threatened. The man regrets, apologizes and – although he does not have a penny – undertakes to partially compensate the injured. Rosa, she will reimburse half of the loot in question which rises to 100,000 francs.
In his indictment, the prosecutor Annick Tavares says he wants to take into account these trajectories of brewed life. However, she wanted to underline the severity of the facts. It is knowingly that the two accused attacked vulnerable elderly people to strip them. Some to the nearest penny. It was a well -established affair that could bring in a month 50,000 francs. She requested 3 years in prison for everyone and an expulsion of the territory. For their part, the lawyers of the two defendants, Laurent Fischer and Gaëtan-Charles Barraud, invoked the Clemence.
The court makes its verdict
The court returned its verdict on Wednesday. He followed the prosecution to the case in the case of Pierre, given his criminal record. The Court was more convinced by Rosa’s story. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 18 other months suspended. In prison since the end of 2023, she therefore emerged from her trial. Well almost. At the end of the hearing, the Canton of Geneva urgently called on the registry of the Vevey court to request its maintenance in detention. Time to settle an old legal file at the end of the lake – we will not know more – awakened by this conviction.
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