Hi all,

I am sharing this post so you can be aware of immigration scam calls.

Today I received a call from a scammer representing himself from Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/de/home.html

He initiated call from +41800247365, official phone number mentioned in contact section of http://eda.admin.ch and insisted me verify it to make me believe that he is calling from FDFA / EDA.

He claimed that I missed to provide my Alien Registration Number while filling the immigration form and to verify authenticity of my permit he started asked me to share details like passport number, visa number, driving license and other info like tax number etc. He tone was interrogative, said my phone was on surveillance from last two days. He also falsely claimed that they send letter to me a week before and also an office visited my house for verification and since I was not at home so he pasted a slip on my door and took a photo of that as a proof that they informed me in advance. Since I did not respond to them so it is a final verification call and if I fail then I will be immediately arrested and deported back to my parent country.

During the call he was tried to threatening me like if cut the call or put him on hold or call someone else that will be consider as breach and failure of verification and I will have pay hefty fine (Euro 12000 euro + my assets will be seized) and I will be arrested within an hour and deported to my parent currently.

Scammer was reluctant when I said if I can visit his office with all the required documents. He gave me an hour to reach in Bern office. When I asked office address he said it is on website. Perhaps he knew it is not easy for me to reach Bern from Fribourg in an hour. When he couldn't get the information he was seeking from me, scammer said he does not want to waste more time with me and gave me two options. Either cooperate with him in the verification and provide all the information he was seeking or pack my bags as he is sending an office at my house within 45 mins of call to arrest me for interrogation and deport me.

Initially I got panicked but then I realize Swiss authority won't talk like that. I am happy I did not shared much of my details with him.

After this call I visited the immigration office to check if they have all the required details and later to police station to register a complain about this scam call.

Immigration office is aware of such scam where scammer is impersonating their official phone number. They were more complaints like that before. It happens more with English speakers. Police was cooperative and registered a complain.

I am thinking from where this scammer got my Swiss phone number, Dob and parent country information. Perhaps he got it from my resume on various job portals.

I wanted to share it so you can be beware of such scam and handle the call without getting cheated.

Thanks

I have a certain feeling. Have you signed up for health insurance yet? If yes with whom?

Yes, I have health insurance coverage from last two years.

3 weeks back I received a call from some saleslady asked about my current insurance provider and she
explained benefits of other insurane product and try to convince me buy supplimentry coverage. They got an appointment and asked me to keep all my insurance documents ready before the meeting. Their representative didn't show up and later I refused to give them second appointment. Yes that could be the beginning of the scam.

As a general rule, ignore ALL requests for personal details & information on the phone, be it bank / insurance / admin etc. Such requests would inevitable come by post - probably registered post.

Cold calling from insurance agents is a pain... just tell them you are not interested. There are no deals - not in CH - that you haven't already seen already on comparis etc etc.

This sounds properly scary. Glad you got out of the situation safely OP.

My rule of thumb : Unless initiated by me, any official business is almost always conducted over official channels (In person, Post, sometimes, exceptionally, E-Mail). Documentary Evidence / Audit Trail must be present for these interactions. A phone call does not fall into these categories (As far as I know) and hence would NOT be something a government office would use.

EDIT: Just saw sva said more or less the same thing.

Other than trying to scare the sh*t out of you, I don't really see what the "scam" was.

Despite having had a star by our landline number in the phonebook at least 50% of calls are now spam, if not scam. The landline era is coming to an end soon. On a mobile, you can block callers and have a single consolidated phone book, rather than a different one on every handset...

All things related to immigration and taxes come via Post in written form. At least this was my experience, I really don't remember getting any call from these authorities. I was asked personal details by some marketing companies with a few occasions. Apart from the classic Microsoft and some other similar scam (I did not get to know what they wanted, they sounded like the "Microsoft guys" and cut them short), that was all in Switzerland during all these years. Easy to see through them.
And the police....they don't announce themselves, I guess.

Exactly.

I actually know someone who accepted a visit from one of these insurance agents and of course, it was like that - he couldn't offer a better deal than what this aquintance already had. Waste of time.

Usually after ramping up the anxiety and nervosity, a way is presented to make it all go away with a simple "one time fine" which needs to be sent by Western Union promptly, sometimes while staying on phone with them.

They just hit on a tough cookie this time.

Generally non-EU i.e. people likely to be extra cautious with their immigration status are the target.

They do and politely ask you when it's convenient for you to go see them. They ask no other questions and the only info they give you is what it is basically about.

If it's not about you being a criminal, that is.

In which case they show up at your door looking for you.

hmm. after they get your passport number, visa number, driving license and other info like tax number etc., i wonder what the scam could be???

I had that only once when they came to check whether our marriage was genuine. They looked very uneasy when they found out, it actually was.

Yep. Also only once. They were looking for another person with the same name.

I received a similar call around 2 years ago. The caller claimed he was from Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the number displayed actually belonged to the FDFA. Just to project himself legit, he started discussing about my recent travel history etc and claimed that I committed a crime in XYZ country that I visited the previous month..Luckily I knew it was a scamster (because one of my friend had warned me about such calls). During the call I pretending like I was worried and played with this caller for good 10 mins without providing my personal details. Later he understood that I was playing with him & he started swearing at me and disconnected the call.


Most of these calls originate from India/ Pakistan/ Nigeria/ Ghana. They get your name/passport/recent travel details from the airliners (used boarding pass is the best source to capture these details). One way to avoid receiving such call is to destroy the used airline boarding pass. Also never provide your real date of birth/ real last name etc on any social media/Insurance comparism sites..


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...-idUSKBN13O2XZ

How did they find out? Did they interrupt something?

Thanks for sharing the link. The call I received was very much like as mentioned in Reuters story. It reminded me the movie "Monster Inc.". Very bad... Looks like such call centers popped up again.