According to news reports, two very hungry couriers at a package distribution center in Mainz, Germany, helped themselves to a Stollen (a German-style fruit cake) which was in a package addressed to the Frankfurter Rundschau, a German daily newspaper. To cover the theft, the couriers took a package which was meant for the Landesbank Berlin (a German bank), put a new address label on it and sent it to the newspaper. The pair were unaware that the parcel contained documents with detailed information about credit card transactions and card numbers for tens of thousands of customers.

When the newspaper received the package, they alerted the police who then questioned the employees at the distribution center. The two couriers admitted to eating the cake and replacing the package with the one meant for the bank. No harm came to the customers of the bank and the incident turned out to be far less sinister than feared.