Convicted in court Senior citizens in Aargau ripped off for hundreds of thousands of francs by guardian
Unknown persons have used a telephone scam to defraud over a dozen senior citizens of a total of 272,000 francs. A guardian from Aargau and a courier have now been sentenced.
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- In an elaborately staged series of frauds, senior citizens were deliberately manipulated.
- Two helpers have now been convicted of fraud and money laundering, including a guardian from Aargau.
- The fraudsters used psychological pressure - a classic example of social engineering.
A sensational series of scams has been uncovered in the canton of Aargau, in which over a dozen senior citizens were defrauded of a total of CHF 272,000. As reported by the "Aargauer Zeitung" newspaper, two of the fraudsters' accomplices have now been brought before the district court in Aarau: a courier driver and an Aargau caregiver. Both were sentenced - the man to three years' partial imprisonment and the woman to 14 months.
The scam: the perpetrators pretended to be police officers or public prosecutors on the phone, claimed to have come across an internal bank fraud case and asked their elderly victims to withdraw money and hand it over to a courier "for investigation". They gave them a code word - in one case it was "Aquarius".
An 85-year-old woman, for example, withdrew 18,700 francs and handed the cash over to a man as requested, who responded with the agreed password. 84-year-old Markus Gersbach also fell for the scam - despite a warning from his neighbor. "I was simply naive," he later told Tele M1.
Woman allowed to keep her job
In total, the courier collected money a dozen times within two months - each time using the same pattern. It was only when another victim became suspicious and called the police that the man was arrested. His driver was also arrested: a woman in her thirties who works as a guardian for an Aargau municipality.
Explosive: the woman claimed during the trial that she had believed the man was offering sexual services - but not that he was involved in fraud. However, a voicemail in which she complained about unfair payment caused her distress. "Why 700 when I go alone? You always get a thousand!" - she was unable to explain these words in court.
The court found her guilty of aiding and abetting commercial fraud and also sentenced her to a fine of 300 francs and damages of around 50,000 francs.
The woman may keep her job as a guardian for the time being, as the acts did not take place within the scope of her professional activity. However, court president Reto Leiser emphasized: "The municipality bears the risk."
Meanwhile, the police have issued an urgent warning against such scams. Marco Dössegger from the Aargau cantonal police explains that so-called "social engineers" specifically use emotions to manipulate their victims. Older people in particular are often tricked into ill-considered actions through clever psychological pressure. Comprehensive prevention work is therefore essential.
