Residential prostitution

Married couple arrested for illegal pimping

Symbolic image(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

Through intensive investigations, the Upper Austrian State Criminal Police Office was able to convict a Hungarian couple who allegedly sexually exploited two countrywomen from September 2024 to February 11, 2025 and obtained an ongoing source of income through their prostitution in Wels. The victims' severe financial hardship is likely to have been massively exploited.

In the case of one of the suspected pimps, a 39-year-old Hungarian, the target investigators of the Upper Austrian Criminal Police Office were initially able to execute an outstanding EU arrest warrant. During the personal search of the arrested man, the investigators were able to seize more than 7,000 euros, proceeds from the pimping.

Exploited countrywomen
The illegal brothel, which was disguised as a normal apartment, was then inspected in Wels. Two exploited prostitutes were also found there. Another woman staying there, a 37-year-old Hungarian woman, turned out to be the second pimp in the course of the investigation. She was the wife of the suspect who had been caught earlier.

Money paid by clients in the illegal residential prostitution apparently had to be handed over to the pimps on the spot, which in all cases probably amounted to at least half of the shameful wages.

Symbolic image(Bild: Andi Schiel)

Suspicion of further victims
The public prosecutor's office in Wels also ordered the arrest of the 37-year-old woman, as the exploitation of the two prostitutes questioned alone is likely to have resulted in pimping in the mid five-figure euro range.

Further investigations into enrichment and other victims are ongoing. The suspected couple was taken to Wels prison.