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Criminals are using a chain of tricks to take money out of people's pockets on Tutti.
Gemini @blue News
They pretend to be deceased people and misuse sales platforms. They then empty their victims' accounts. A case on Tutti shows how perfidious online fraudsters are now operating.
A cake container for 60 francs becomes the ticket for an identity theft worth almost 5,000 francs. The Beobachter reported this last week. The victim is a woman who decided to sell the simple household object via the classifieds platform Tutti. The perpetrators: criminals who deliberately use the names of deceased people to gain trust and steal money.
"Hey, I've seen your ad and find the offer really appealing. I have a few points to clarify and would like to buy it if everything is in order," writes a certain Fatima in a message on Tutti to Ursula Brecht, whose real name is different. It sounds like a harmless purchase request. But what follows is a cleverly orchestrated scam in several acts.
The first thing Fatima wants to do is change the communication channel and suggests "VVhatsz App" - deliberately misspelled. Such spelling mistakes are no accident. Fraudsters use them to bypass automatic fraud detection systems on sales platforms.
In the chat, it is no longer Fatima who answers, but a man called Franz. He gives an address in Gersau SZ and announces that he will confirm receipt of the cake container. Brecht could then "receive money" via a link. However, neither Tutti nor Twint has such a function. Instead, the link leads to a fake Postfinance website through which the access data to Brecht's Twint account has been tapped. Within 30 minutes, her account is emptied with ten transactions.
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The perpetrators do not transfer the stolen money directly to their own account. That would be too conspicuous. Instead, they use it to buy prepaid cards from K-Kiosk. Apple Pay, Paypal - digital currencies that can be easily anonymized. The money can be transferred virtually without a trace.
But that's not all: the address in Gersau did exist - but it belonged to a recently deceased person. Tutti spokeswoman Mojca Fuks confirms that several fraudulent user accounts were created under his name. "We were able to block the account on the day of registration," says Fuks. However, it was already too late for Ursula Brecht.
For the bereaved widow, the identity fraud also came as a shock: more than 20 parcels were addressed to her after her husband's death - including soft toys, an ironing board and items of clothing. There was little the police could do. At some point, the woman refused to accept them.
The case reveals just how far perpetrators go today. They scour obituaries, misuse the identity of the deceased and use sales platforms as a gateway. It's not about the goods, but about the payment details of the sellers. The criminals exploit the trust associated with a real name and an existing address.
Tutti and Twint advise increased vigilance. Never click on links or scan QR codes sent by buyers. And if possible, communicate via the platform itself. Anyone who comes across WhatsApp messages with strange spelling should be skeptical.
