Convicted Couple used 1000 false identities for massive online fraud

A couple put false names on the letterboxes of empty apartments and had parcels delivered to these addresses. Until they were discovered.

Fraud in online stores is actually not uncommon. Now the "Aargauer Zeitung" reports on the case of a couple who had to answer to the Kulm district court and who stand out due to the extraordinary extent of their fraud.

According to the indictment, the couple placed 2220 orders in 25 different stores and ordered a total of 4718 items worth over CHF 275,000 without paying for them. This was possible thanks to a particularly imaginative scam.

The couple created around 1000 false identities and corresponding e-mail addresses, 647 of which were demonstrably used for orders. They searched for vacant apartments on "homegate.ch" and had the parcels delivered there.

Woman has cancer

The day before delivery, they put the false names on the letterboxes and collected the goods after delivery without paying the bills.

The accused have confessed. "I have not only caused damage to myself, but also to my wife and children," the man from Bosnia-Herzegovina explained in court. His Tommy Hilfiger shirt stretches around his strong chest, tattoos peek out from under his collar and his hair is cut short.

His wife, elegantly dressed and with shoulder-length dark hair, describes her stroke of fate: she is seriously ill with cancer and has little chance of recovery.

The couple's children know about it

When court president Christian Märki asked how the children were feeling, she replied: "I explained to them what was happening today. They just asked if I was coming back." The man explained that he had wanted to do something good for his family and had therefore ordered things that he could not afford.

He denies his addiction to cocaine, which was a burden on the family budget. Despite an earlier similar offense, in which the woman was acquitted, they apparently could not stop. It was also a kind of addiction, they both explain.

Neighbors convict the cheating couple

It was thanks to two observant women that the couple were discovered. A caretaker noticed a parcel in a letterbox, although no one with the same name lived there. She took the parcel and left a note.

She later observed a man who took the note in his hand but then drove away. She noted the license plate number. However, the accused denied ever having had such a note in his hand.

A tenant in another building made a similar observation shortly afterwards. The couple were identified on the basis of the license plate, placed under surveillance and finally had their house searched.

"Splitting hairs and exaggerated formalism"

The defendants' lawyers believe this was unlawful. "The value of the parcels was less than 300 francs and my client did not steal them - so it was only an attempted offense. That's not even a criminal offense," explains the lawyer.

According to the defense, this is nowhere near enough for coercive measures such as surveillance and a house search.

The public prosecutor's office had shot sparrows with cannons and other inadmissible evidence-gathering methods had been used. If the court were to follow this view, almost all of the evidence would be invalid. "Splitting hairs and exaggerated formalism" is what the public prosecutor's office calls the doubts raised.

Criticism of the measures

The accused's defense lawyer was not sparing in his criticism of the measures. He criticized the fact that the house search had only been approved retrospectively and that not all of the purchases listed could be clearly attributed to the couple.

"You can't simply blame them for unpaid orders," he explained and - like his colleague - called for an acquittal on formal grounds.

Should a guilty verdict nevertheless be reached, the sentence would have to be drastically reduced. The man faces an additional five years in prison and expulsion from the country for previous fraud offenses, for which he had already been sentenced to three years and three months in prison.

Initial suspicion confirmed

His defense lawyer considers a maximum of 18 months to be appropriate and requests that the expulsion from the country be waived. The public prosecutor's office has requested a prison sentence of four years for the woman, which her defense lawyer described as "completely overshooting the mark".

In the event of a guilty verdict, 15 months on probation would be appropriate. The Kulm District Court found that the evidence could be used, as initial suspicion existed and had been confirmed.

The woman was found guilty of commercial fraud and received a suspended prison sentence of 21 months with a probationary period of two years.

Imprisonment and expulsion from the country

"She is an accomplice, she does not appear to have played first fiddle," explained court president Märki. An additional sentence had to be imposed on the man, who remains in custody.

In addition to commercial fraud, he was also convicted of receiving stolen goods - he had bought a stolen e-bike from a colleague - as well as violations of the Weapons Act and the Narcotics Act.

The Bosnian must spend an additional 18 months in prison and pay a fine of 300 francs, as well as being banned from the country for four years.

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