Trial Aarau District Court sentences professional grandchild fraudster
The District Court of Aarau has sentenced a grandchild fraudster to three and a half years' imprisonment for commercial fraud. The 38-year-old Pole, a member of a Roma clan, confessed to all the cases.
27.11.2025, 10:30
SDA
The man was sentenced on Thursday for 32 grandchild frauds in German-speaking Switzerland in the period between March 2012 and July 2016. The amount of the offense in eleven completed cases is 1.02 million francs. In 21 cases it was only an attempt. The man was remorseful when questioned in court.
The 38-year-old had already been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison by the Hamburg District Court. After serving his sentence, he was extradited from Germany to Switzerland last May. The first offense was committed in Aarau in 2012.
The trial at Aarau District Court was conducted in summary proceedings. This means that the public prosecutor and the defendant reached an agreement in advance. The court examined the case.
Like in a call center
The president of the court questioned the man, who spoke perfect High German. "It was like a call center for me," said the Pole. He was Roma and it had been difficult to find a proper job.
His father is considered the "inventor" of the grandchild scam. As a young man, he learned how this business worked from his clan. "I learned it by listening," he said: "For me, it was just a business."
He picked out the victims in German-speaking Switzerland on the phone - old German first names were in his sights. He called repeatedly and told a story to build trust and put pressure on them.
"I played the part," he said. He also organized the so-called boars, i.e. the people who collected the goods such as cash and expensive jewelry. Half of the loot went to him, the other half to the boar, as the Pole stated.
