Buy a lost suitcase belonging to someone else for just 1.95 francs? Apparently a tempting idea for many. Scammers on Facebook shamelessly exploit this curiosity. In fake advertisements they advertise alleged suitcase auctions at Zurich Airport in order to obtain money and personal data from the victims. A woman from eastern Switzerland almost lost a lot of money in January.
Just in time for the start of the autumn holidays, the fraudsters now seem to be active again. Zurich Airport warns about the scam on Instagram in English. Translated, the message reads: “Unfortunately, there are always fake advertisements and posts circulating that pretend to be Zurich Airport and advertise luggage auctions.”
Fraud has been going on since last autumn – and not just in Zurich
Despite the warnings, the fraudsters are still successful with the scam – and have been for a year now. According to Flughafen Zürich AG, they are aware of isolated cases. “In this case, we recommend contacting the police directly and having the credit card blocked immediately,” says Mario Schlegel from the media office.
They are in contact with various European airports, which reported the same problems. “We have filed a complaint against unknown people,” Mario Schlegel told ZüriToday.
There are no suitcase auctions
Meta has so far reacted slowly or not at all to reports of fake profiles. Nevertheless, the airport is persistently calling on the public to report the fake accounts and spread the warning in order to protect as many people as possible from the perfidious trap. The media office also makes it clear: Zurich Airport does not conduct luggage auctions or sales. So you can assume that such advertisements are always false.
