Overview
- After a late-December break-in at the Sparkasse branch in Gelsenkirchen-Buer, more than 3,000 safe-deposit boxes were found opened with gold, cash and valuables stolen.
- Astrid Kaiser, a 57-year-old customer, says her retirement savings in gold were taken and that the bank offered her a bridge loan at more than 7% interest to cover a prebooked cruise payment.
- The bank said in a written statement that advisers are available to help and that it is unaware of customers in acute financial difficulty following the thefts.
- Authorities and media report that the total value of the haul remains unclear, with estimates ranging from the low hundreds of millions to potentially higher.
- Tagesspiegel reports that lawsuits alleging inadequate security are pending against the bank, and Kaiser says she has joined the legal action.