Deception (social engineering): Municipality and public administration, Switzerland 2025
In April 2025, municipalities increasingly reported emails to the NCSC from supposed mayors or municipal presidents.
- Incident · 04.2025 · Switzerland
- Evidence: confirmed by an authority
- Deception (social engineering)
- Fraud
As of
What happened
The fraudsters asked for online gift cards, often worth several hundred francs, or urgent transfers, mostly to foreign accounts. The amounts were often below the internal approval threshold.
- Affected
- Company (anonymous)
- Loss
- no reliable figure
- Business interruption
- unknown
- Ransom demanded / paid
- unknown / unknown
- Data affected
- unknown
- Bankruptcy
- no
- Entry point
- Email in the name of the mayor or municipal president
What would cyber insurance have paid?
That depends on the terms. Whether those affected were insured: unknown.
-
CEO fraud, diverted payment, fake invoice
Mostly add-on 5 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
Overview based on public policy terms, as of 06.11.2026. Only your policy and its general terms and conditions (GTC) are binding. No confirmation of cover.
What we can learn
Gift card requests by email are a clear sign of fraud; even small amounts need the four-eyes principle.
Sources
- Wochenrückblick Woche 17: Anhaltende CEO-Betrugsversuche gegen Schweizer Gemeinden (opens in a new window) Bundesamt für Cybersicherheit BACS (bis 2023: NCSC) · 29.04.2025
«Oftmals liegen die Beträge unterhalb der internen Genehmigungsschwelle, welche zusätzliche Kontrollen erfordert hätte.»
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