Hello All,

Kind of new to Switzerland and I've already been scammed once because I don't read German and nothing is available in English nor will anyone explain it to me when I ask. (Sorry for my snarkiness but its quite difficult to live in this country sometimes)

But recently I've go this mail sent to me asking for me to pay a fee of 143 franc to the Justice and Security Department of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. And there is no information on the bill about what it is for...I already sent the money out so I am just trying to confirm that I didn't get scammed(again...)

Thank you all in advance!

It's too small to read in the photo.

you might want to post the original bill and not the 2nd reminder.

I dont know how to upload anything bigger than that...

But i can transcibe what it says

2. Mahnung

Trotz unserer 1. Mahnung ist die nachstehende Forderung noch immer offen. Wir bitten Sie, den uberfalligen Betrag mit anliegendem Einzahlungsschein umgehend zu uberweisen.

Wir weisen Sie darauf hin, dass fur diese Mahnung gemass RRB vom 05. 12 .2006, Nr. 06/41/26 zusatzlich eine Mahngebuhr von CHF 40.00 erhoben wird.

Sollten Sie den Betrag in der Zwischenzeit uberwisen haben, bitten wir Sie, dieses Schreiben als gegenstandlos zu betrachten.

so whatever the original bill was for, it was 103 francs and you've not paid it so you get a 40 franc charge on top.

the original bill will explain what it's for.

I just figured it out, it was my residence permit. However I distinctly remember paying the fee when i was at the office, so I wonder why they are charging me again...

This is most certainly NOT a scam, but the 2nd reminder of a bill you have had to pay.

I presume, due to the header of the letter, they are costs for you registering in Switzerland/ Getting a permit or some such similar thing.

if you paid the amount due, as you state in your original post, then you can forget about this.

If not......next step of the migration service of Basel will be a BETREIBUNG, and that is no picnic.

Thank you everyone for the quick responses, I still feel so vulnerable after my first scam that I put off certain payments until I figure it out. I paid the bill already, albeit the late costs are pretty high, but now I know I can rely on help from this forum!

And what was the first scam?

Tom

I highly recommend using deepl.com translator, yes it's a bit cumbersome to type things from paper (I suggest typing in something like notepad and then just copy/paste in the website, otherwise it can decline the free service because it sends the text for every changed letter or something), but translations are great, really great for German <> English.

I use it all the time, and it saved my sanity more than once.

Check with your employer. When I was on a Permis B mine always refunded me the cost. Perhaps not the penalty, but you could get some of it back.

Cam also use Google translate app and simply use the camera to translate

You can use a translator app that takes a photo of a letter, if you don't understand it, such as TextGrabber.

I am assuming you are non EU? It all comes down to what was on the original letter, it will tell you what the charge is for.

You say you paid in the office too. This may not be your case, but we had to pay a fee for registering in the commune AND then I had to pay for my B permit once it arrived in the mail.

If you have already paid this you will have been given a receipt.
Find it, go back to the office concerned along with the newly received demand for payment and they'll sort it out.

I remember with one of my admin things with the city, I had to pay at the desk for the application then pay later for the actual thing when I got it later. Can't remember exactly what it was now but wasn't the permit as my employer took care of that. Was maybe the driver's licence.

On my Samsung Android phone now, if I attempt to take a picture of a piece of paper it will offer me the option of 'scanning' it. It then offers the ability to extract text and/or to translate the text. Very useful.
With good translate app you can translate as you 'scan' and/or similarly take a picture.

Basel's got to be one of the easiest places to live in europe outside of the UK as an only English speaking person.

Why would it be?

Tom

Now that is really a bad idea. Doesn’t goggle know enough about you?

DeepL does everything that google does and doesn’t compromise your privacy.


I always warn newcomers to bring enough analgesic creme for the first six months, as they will certainly need it for arm strain as they are constantly reaching for their wallet.

That's good to know. I prefer deepl over Google but I have never seen the camera translate option. Does deepl also do Japanese now?