Fraud is rising markedly in Switzerland. According to the “Crime Survey 2025”, a study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and the University of St. Gallen, 15.9% of respondents say they fell victim to fraud in the twelve months preceding the survey. In the previous edition, in 2022, that share stood at 8.4%. And 75% of these frauds took place via social media and the internet.

How the survey is built

Before reading these figures, it is worth understanding where they come from. The Crime Survey is not a police statistic: it is a population survey on experiences of victimisation and the sense of security in Switzerland. People are asked directly what they have experienced, whether or not they filed a complaint. This method therefore also captures incidents that are never reported to the police.

The 2025 edition, presented as representative and conducted in collaboration with the Conference of Cantonal Police Commanders of Switzerland (CCPCS), is based on the answers of 13,499 people aged 16 to 80, surveyed across the country. After 2022, this is the second time the survey has been carried out, in a largely identical form. That is what makes it possible to compare the two waves.

A real increase, according to the authors

A rise in the figures can sometimes be explained by a greater willingness to report crimes. The authors rule out this reading: reporting rates have remained virtually unchanged compared with the last survey. Dirk Baier, co-head of the project, therefore attributes the increase in reported offences to a real rise in crime, and not to a greater propensity to file complaints.

Fraud is not the only concern. Theft of personal belongings rose from 3% to 4.3% of people affected, and theft from cars from 1.2% to 2.7%. Sexual harassment rose from 4.3% to 6.2% of victims, while no increase was recorded for sexual violence. Hate crimes went from 3.4% to 5% of respondents.

A country still seen as safe

The sense of security has deteriorated slightly: 83.1% of respondents feel safe in their neighbourhood after dark, compared with 87.6% in 2022. The share of those who consider the police presence insufficient rose from 28.9% to 37.9%. Trust in the police nevertheless remains high, according to the study’s authors.

“We must take this development seriously, without dramatising it. Despite this declining sense of security, the population continues to perceive Switzerland as a safe country,” stresses Nora Markwalder, co-head of the project.

One digital area shows a positive trend: cyberbullying. The reporting rate per victim is rising there, and 63.6% of victims said they were satisfied with how the police handled their case, compared with 21.1% in 2022.

What these figures say about online fraud

With 75% of frauds carried out via social media and the internet, fraud is above all an online affair. The study, as reported, does not, however, detail the types of scams or the amounts involved, and does not offer any prevention advice.

A few common-sense reflexes remain valid, though they do not come from the survey: be wary of an unexpected request that pushes you to act quickly, verify a contact’s identity through another channel before handing over money or personal data, and report incidents to the police. Nothing alarmist: simply caution in the face of a phenomenon that the survey measures as rising sharply.

Sources

  • Allnews: “Sharp rise in fraud cases in Switzerland since 2022”