Tyrolean community cheated by hundreds of thousands: two suspects!

Tyrolean community cheated by hundreds of thousands: two suspects!

Tirol, Österreich - A Tyrolean community was victim of a sophisticated fraud in which two suspects born in 2003 became the focus of the investigation. According to Kleine Zeitung it is clear that the suspects used the accounts of one of the suspicions to carry out their fraudulent acts. A criminal officer explained that the money secured is only part of the total damage. The rest of the amount had already been transferred to the second suspect and withdrawn from it. The further clarification of the remaining money is to take place as part of a court procedure.

The fraud turned out to be particularly treacherous: a construction company who was responsible for the construction of a new elementary school received a supposed letter from the community. In this letter it was claimed that an invoice had been lost and the company was asked to submit this invoice again. The company exhibited them again, whereupon the perpetrators asked the community for a transfer to another account. Since it was an Austrian account, the participants did not suspect. The fraud only came to light when the construction company asked for the outstanding amount.

money laundering and fraud -phenomena

The case in the Tyrolean community throws a light on the increasing problems with money laundering and cyber fraud in Austria. According to a report by the Federal Ministry of Interior BMI , the money laundry stop in 2022 registered a significant increase in suspicions, especially with regard to cyber-frug. A total of almost 7,000 inputs were recorded, which corresponds to an increase of 16 % compared to 2021. The most common preliminary acts are fraud, tax offenses and falsifications of documents, with particularly fraudulent methods such as the "daughter-son trick".

Due to the high number of scams that have failed, the money washes are increasingly interested in recognizing and analyzing current phenomena. In addition, banks and financial institutions are the main source of suspected reports, while a significant part also comes from crypto exchange. In the context of these incidents, the legal construction of money laundering is also considered, as explained in an essay by Christian Becker Bdk . The prerequisites for the criminal liability, which is enough of the perpetrators, who is enough to accept the origin of illegal flows of money, without necessarily knowing the exact circumstances.

The spectacular case in the Tyrolean community is therefore not only a single incident, but part of a major problem that increasingly shapes Austria's financial landscape. The authorities are doing everything they can to continue against these delicate machinations and to make investments in security mechanisms.