How do you report Credit Card Fraud to the Swiss Police?

Hello everyone...

A friend of mine is in a bit of a catch 22 situation... He's had his spanish card used by someone (he doesn't know where or how) he only realised when he saw his statment online and realised it was used without his knowledge.

He has reported this to the Credit Card issuer who has blocked the card etc as expected and has asked he reports the issue to the police... To our shocking surprise at the Police Station in Zug the police were nothing but helpful, I understand the 'report to the police' procedure is supposed to be as routine as nipping to the loo from where I come from. However the police seem to want more information like for instance who has used the card and where!! when in fact my friend doesn't have a clue!!

My question is very specific... Has anyone ever had any card fraud here and how did they go about reporting to the police? on the telephone? or in the police station?

Thanks for your help

Cheers

TLD

Was his card physically stolen?

I had similar experience. Someone charged my card in two different cases / places. A charge was made for an airline ticket on Ethiopian airlines and another charge was made on a rental car in Saudi Arabia. I reported to the credit card company, card was cancelled and replaced, charges were removed from my account and no police report was required. I think unless the card was physically stolen, a police report is not required.

BTW, my card was not physically stolen. I think the number and security code in the back was noted by a hotel employee while I checked out from a hotel down south....way south....almost at the end of the world.

Isn't the information in his ONLINE STATEMENT?

My online statements and current transactions overview has at least the DATE and name of the place where the transaction took place.

Just a guess, but perhaps it would good to consult with MELANI ?

http://www.melani.admin.ch/index.html?lang=en

Alternatively, try the Zurich Police Fachgruppe Vermögensdelikte 2 - they're specialised on such things and should be able to help or put you in contact with the right person/department..

You take your statement to the police station and report that you didn't make those transactions. You sign the police statement and send it to the bank. You might have to pay for the privilege here.

I've had trouble with cheque fraud - twice now someone has opened my mail and signed it over to a completely different name. The bank asked for a police report. I won't pay by cheque again - claiming the money back was way too much hassle.

Thanks MarieZug but did you do this in the past? He went there twice and with a German speaker... as I said the police weren't interested from what I can tell... as I wasn't there personally...

It will get resolved I'm sure just will take a bit of time I'm sure.

From my experience back in the UK it was all done on the phone, Rang the local police to report, got a reference number, reported it to be bank... banks sends form with amounts disputed sign and return to the bank... 10 working days later, amount is credited back into the bank account...

This is of course slightly different with it being a credit card but I doubt it would make that much of a difference to the procedure to be followed...

*Sign* where is swiss efficiency when you need it!

He took the online statement to the Police as a matter of fact... The Transaction was for XXXX Airlines... seems it was an online tranasaction...

No

Not sure as to the validity of this statement... I believe it may depend on the amount and the bank/card issuer...

Thank you though :-)

Obtaining a police report is a very standard thing here. You need one for insurance claims Quite a few insurers insist on one.

Never heard of a credit company requiring a police report. Insurance companies, yes. Doesn't even make sense as they write off the loss themselves.

In fact, just put in a claim myself locally and there was no request for a police report.

In Canada, the credit company knew long before I did that my card was being used fraudulently; they had damn good data mining intelligence.

Now you have....

From my experience this is done as a formality and as some sort of psychological deterrent I guess...

The police will never follow any card fraud up unless the Bank specifically request it to be followed up again this depends on where you are etc...

Anyway if you have reported something here in Switzerland regarding Card Fraud please feel free to pm me with your experience.

If you haven't heard of reports being needed for Card Fraud or you think it's unecessary fee free to create your own thread :-p

Just to let everyone know that my friend has had his money back from the credit card company at least.

This was done after they received the police report that he finally managed to obtain with a help of a Swiss colleague after various attempts by him failed to get anywhere with the stuborn and on this occasion frankly unhelpful swiss police.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

Please close this thread if you need to.

According to some on here, you post on facebook that you are looking for a cute policewoman to meet up with you to discuss the case......and just wait and see what happens.....

....oops sorry....wrong thread.....

Sounds like the wrong threat indeed lol... care to point which is the thread you are referring to?

I found one Halb tax card

Had my card used fraudulently several times but was never asked to report it to the police.

Moot point anyway about who should report it? As I understand it the card belongs to the issuer & they are the ones defrauded so they should report it?

I saw that one lol...

Doesn't say anything about a cute police woman but I see the implied joke :-p nevermind ha

hmm interesting point... card issued by issuer in the issue-ee's name... if money is taken that the card holder hasn't spent then I guess it could be said that someone has fraudulently used the card holder's card without his permission and hence the crime was commited against the card holder and not the card issuer... anyway it is what it is and it has to be reported as per the bank's request...

Could also say the issuer is the one defrauded because somebody pretending to me used credit from the issuer to obtain goods or money?

I am not defrauded because i would not pay the issuer for any charge that I did not personally incur.

I would claim I am not responsible if somebody uses a stolen/ forged credit card in my name?