By Paul Ronzheimer, Stefan Peter and Philip Fabian
The political thriller about the fake talks of an alleged Vitali Klitschko with the mayors of major European cities is getting more and more crazy!
On Friday, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey thought she was talking to her Kiev counterpart Vitali Klitschko (50). But she was only led to believe that Klitschko was on the other end of the line – she finally broke off the call.
Now it turns out: The mayors of Madrid and Vienna were also the target of such attacks – and the Vienna city boss fell completely for Fake Klitschko!
Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig didn’t notice anything, even sent out a press release after his conversation on Wednesday and posted a Twitter thread in German and English in which he reported in detail about his conversation. In Vienna, Klitschko has a “reliable human partner in supporting the Ukrainians,” he wrote.
Like Giffey, the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martinez-Almeida, became suspicious after a few minutes when he interacted with the alleged Klitschko. He broke off the conversation.
Vienna’s mayor even posted a Twitter thread after the conversation and sent out a press release Photo: Twitter/Michael Ludwig
How easy it was to trick the three cities
In all three cases, the man on the other end looked like Klitschko, but he wasn’t. After getting stranger and stranger, Giffey finally broke off the conversation, and the Berlin Senate Chancellery made the incident public on Twitter.
How was the scammer able to sneak into the talks with Berlin’s governing mayor and the other victims?
The Berlin Senate Chancellery apparently had no direct line to Klitschko’s office, and after the conversation asked the embassy whether the mayor of Kiev was in contact.
The e-mail communication between the fake Klitschko and the office of the Madrid mayor is currently available.
This shows: A simple forgery of the email address was enough in contact with Madrid’s city government. The contact and the request for a video appointment went to a sender with the email address “[email protected]” – and nobody checked whether it was correct. The official email addresses of the Ukrainian government end in “gov.ua”.
With a simple fake email address, the fake Klitschko was able to sneak into a conversation with the mayor of Madrid Photo: BILD
These warning signs were obvious
︎ The wrong Klitschko appeared at the video conference in a sweater and coat – although summer temperatures in Kyiv are more than 30 degrees Celsius. The source of the pictures seems to be an interview video that Klitschko actually gave in April and is freely available on YouTube.
︎ He had asked the Berliners if he could conduct the conversation in Russian with a translator. Although Klitschko speaks Russian, in his official capacity as Kiev mayor he speaks Ukrainian. And with foreign interlocutors German or English, both of which he speaks fluently, as is well known. He had lived in Hamburg for years during his boxing career.
︎ Fake-Klitschko asked how Berlin was dealing with the fact that “so many Ukrainians are stealing social benefits”.
In the video conference, it cannot be seen that Franziska Giffey is speaking to a fake Vitali Klitschko Photo: Senate Chancellery
︎ According to Senate spokeswoman Lisa Frerichs, “there was a request that our authorities support young men in particular going back to Ukraine to fight there,” said Senate spokeswoman Lisa Frerichs on Friday evening.
︎ Even more bizarre: the interlocutor finally asked if Berlin could help Kyiv organize a Christopher Street Day. “In view of the war, that was more than strange,” said Frerichs.
Then Giffey broke off the conversation. The Berlin Senate Chancellery contacted the Ukrainian Embassy in Berlin. The confirmed: Vitali Klitschko had no conversation with Giffey.
Echter Klitschko: “I don’t need a translator”
The real Klitschko has now reported to Giffey on Twitter – and now via video message in BILD! In it he warns that only the official channels should be used to talk to him.
Klitschko continues in the video: “For those who speak German or English: I never need a translator.”
State security determined
The state protection of the criminal police, which is responsible for politically motivated crimes in Germany, is now investigating. A political motive is assumed, said a police spokesman on Saturday morning of the German Press Agency.
The direction in which the investigations lead is therefore dependent on the findings that the investigators achieve. The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported on the investigation.
It is still unclear who is behind it. Was it the Russian secret service?
Giffey: “Unfortunately, it is part of the reality that the war is being waged by all means – including online, in order to undermine trust with digital methods and to discredit Ukraine’s partners and allies.”
