‘Fake president fraud’ is Luxembourg word of the year

The term “Presidententrick” or “fake president fraud” has been chosen as the Luxembourg word of the year 2024, with the Caritas affair but also the begging ban among the runners up.

For the past five years, the Luxembourg language centre ZLS has worked with the culture ministry and Luxembourg media to select the words that marked the year.

This year, the word “Presidententrick” (fake president fraud) came first, followed by “Caritas-Affär” (Caritas affair), “Heescheverbuet” (begging ban), “Rietsruck” (move to the right) and “Grenzkontrollen” (border checks), the culture ministry said in a press release on Friday.

Luxembourg residents could submit their suggestions online and during the Walfer Bicherdeeg literary convention. A jury composed of members of the Luxembourg language centre and local media, including the Luxemburger Wort, then selected five winning words.

“The majority of proposals were in direct relation with concrete events,” the culture ministry explained, saying that “Trumpism”, “Maga” (Make America Great Again), and “Gaza” were among many other suggestions submitted.

The winner of this year’s edition is linked to one of the events that shook Luxembourg this year: the Caritas scam through which the charity lost €61 million in a fraud.

The public prosecutor’s office as part of its investigation said it is looking into fake president fraud in relation to the embezzlement of funds.

“Fake president fraud” involves criminals stealing a company’s funds by manipulating employees into making money transfers that a bank will consider legitimate. The scammers will pose as president, CEO or CFO of the entity, or even as a supplier or legal representative urging their victim to transfer money.

The other terms on the top five list are also linked to Luxembourg news, such as the begging ban enforced in the capital this year, the political swing to the right across Europe, and the border controls implemented by Germany and France during the final quarter of the year.

“Fake president fraud” succeeds the terms “KI” (AI), “Ukrainkrich” (Ukraine war), “boosteren” (getting a vaccine booster) and “Corona” as the word of the year.