Swiss allege woman sweet talked her way to $2M bank scam
Swiss authorities said Thursday they have indicted a woman who allegedly persuaded dozens of people to provide their online banking details over the phone from the Netherlands.
Federal prosecutors said the woman managed to use the banking details to steal more than 2 million Swiss francs ($1.98 million) between March 2016 and July 2018.
Prosecutors said about 50 people fell victim to the scam, known as "voice phishing." They provided no further details on how she managed to sweet talk her victims into divulging their details.
They said the woman, who was not identified, was working with an "internationally active group" that also used spam emails in the scheme.
She was among two people arrested in the Rotterdam area last June. Dutch authorities extradited the woman to Switzerland.
The scam involved emails purporting to be from banks being sent to people who then "logged into" a fake banking website. Those details were then transmitted to the culprits, who then sent another email to the customers asking them to read out security numbers over the phone.
Andre Marty, a spokesman for the Swiss attorney general's office, said prosecutors were urging people not to provide their banking details in response to emails or phone calls.
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