Approval of retroactive telecommunications surveillance for a fraud victim

Facts

The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Schaffhausen is conducting a criminal investigation for attempted fraud ("grandparent scam" or "police scam") and abuse of a telecommunications facility against unknown perpetrators. On December 28, 2017, an elderly person was called multiple times and fraudulently induced to provide information about a substantial amount of cash. The perpetrators attempted to get the victim to hand over the money to another person. The Public Prosecutor's Office applied to the cantonal coercive measures court for approval of retroactive traffic data acquisition on the victim's connections for the time of the offense. However, the Cantonal Court dismissed the request.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court overturns the decision of the Cantonal Court and approves the retroactive participant identification requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office. It finds that the legal requirements for traffic data acquisition under Art. 273 of the Criminal Procedure Code are met. In particular, the subsidiarity of the measure is given, as the victim as a private individual…