German of the day: Betrug

That means fraud.

Not just any fraud in this case. German fraud.

5 Southern California suspects arrested for German fraud scheme that stole over €300 million from victims – Five Southern California residents were arrested for their alleged roles in a fraud scheme that stole over €300 million from victims in Germany.

The suspects are accused of creating a scheme that targeted their victims with millions of recurring debit and credit card charges that hit below €50 (around $57 USD) to avoid any detection or suspicion.

The charges were linked to fake or non-existent companies and used fictitious websites that were only accessible via direct links or URLs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

German Of The Day: Überziehungskredit

That means overdraft credit. You know, when money is withdrawn from your bank account and the available balance goes below zero?

Credit

Sure comes in handy. Take this lady here. Please. She glanced at her banking app during breakfast one morning and was rather surprised to discover that the grocery store chain Rewe had just booked 8,590,000,000.42 euros from her account – with a friendly “Rewe says thanks!”

After some quick calculations she realized that a mistake had been made. Accidents will happen, folks.

Bank zieht Frau vermeintlich acht Milliarden Euro ab.