Ticket machines manipulated
Unknown perpetrators have manipulated ticket vending machines at various train stations in the city of Zurich in recent days and weeks, stealing cash in an unknown amount, according to the city police.
Since the beginning of September 2015, around 30 cases of so-called "cash trapping" have been reported to the Zurich City Police. This is a special form of theft from cash or ticket machines. In these cases, SBB ticket machines were mechanically prepared by unknown perpetrators. According to the police, the procedure is always the same: the note dispensing shaft for the change is prepared or blocked in such a way that the notes get stuck and can no longer be removed. As a result, an error message appears on the display and no further transactions are possible. As soon as the person concerned moves away from the machine because of the error message, the perpetrator goes to the ticket machine to remove the stuck banknotes from the machine. Ticket vending machines at train stations in Zurich's districts 1, 2, 3, 8, 10 and 11 were affected by these manipulations.
Tips for the populationIf you do not receive any note change at a ticket machine and a malfunction message appears, stay with the machine if possible and do not allow yourself to be lured away by people who are supposedly willing to help. Ask someone else to report the fault at the ticket counter and notify the police via the emergency number 117. If you observe people behaving suspiciously around ticket machines, also report them to the police.
Useful information is also here available.
