Fake payment

Fraudsters cheated winegrowers when buying old wine tanks

The discarded wine tanks were collected, but none of the money ended up in the sellers' accounts.(Bild: LPD NÖ)

Three Hungarians bought equipment for the production of fine grape juice from bona fide winegrowers. However, the agreed purchase price was never transferred.  

Winegrowers from Lower Austria and Burgenland advertised their discarded wine tanks and accessories for sale on the Internet. Interested parties from Hungary soon came forward and the deal was quickly sealed at meetings on the farmers' farms, and the price was also quickly agreed.

Transfer only as a screenshot
The goods were loaded, tied up - and transported away. The sellers were convinced that the deal had already been done. The Hungarians had used screenshots to make the winegrowers believe that the money had been transferred correctly. However, the money never ended up in the accounts of the cheated winegrowers from the districts of Mistelbach, Krems and Eisenstadt. The loss: around 37,000 euros!

Suspects tracked down
After extensive investigations, detectives from the Weinviertel region were finally able to track down three Hungarian suspects - aged 52, 40 and 29. The oldest was arrested in his home country on the basis of a European arrest warrant and extradited, the youngest handed himself in to the police in Burgenland. The 40-year-old was charged.