A batch of microfilmed data including names, addresses and card transactions ended up at the Frankfurter Rundschau daily last week -- instead of the cake. Police advised credit card customers with Landesbank Berlin to check their accounts for inconsistencies. But the incident turned out to be less sinister than feared.
Frankfurt prosecutors said that two couriers stole a Stollen, a German-style Christmas cake, at a distribution center in Mainz.
In an attempt to cover up the theft, the men instead sent one of several packages of credit card billing details destined for Landesbank Berlin to the newspaper, the cake's intended recipient.
Doris Moeller-Scheu, a spokesman for Frankfurt prosecutors, said the suspected thieves didn't open the package and "could not know what was in it," so no harm came to customers.
She said the two men had admitted to the theft. Prosecutors did not name the courier service involved or identify the two suspects.
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