Character doesn't recognize UBoxComponent

Development Character & Animation
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1

I made a simple box component for my character to see which actors stand next to it. But somehow I don’t get it to work, respectively the class doesn’t recognize the component… even though I can see it in the editor. Here is my code:

SomCharacter.h

UCLASS()
class STRUGGLEOFMAGES_API ASomCharacter : public ACharacter
{
	GENERATED_UCLASS_BODY()

        //Declare the Vicinity Box
        UPROPERTY(VisibleAnywhere, BlueprintReadOnly, Category = Volumes)
		UBoxComponent* VicinityBox;
}

             //A Function to get all the actors nearby
	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, Category = Interaction)
		TArray<AActor*> GetVicinityInteractables();

SomCharacter.cpp

ASomCharacter::ASomCharacter(const class FObjectInitializer& PCIP)
	: Super(PCIP)
{

    //Create the vicinity box and set its attributes
    VicinityBox = PCIP.CreateDefaultSubobject<UBoxComponent>(this, TEXT("Vicinity_Box"));
	VicinityBox->AttachTo(RootComponent);
	VicinityBox->AddLocalOffset(FVector(70.0, 0.0, 0.0));
	VicinityBox->SetBoxExtent(FVector(50.0, 60.0, 100.0));
	VicinityBox->SetHiddenInGame(false);

}


TArray<AActor*> ASomCharacter::GetVicinityInteractables()
{
	TArray<AActor*> CollectedActors;

	//Collect ALL Actors in the VicinityBox
	if (VicinityBox)
		VicinityBox->GetOverlappingActors(CollectedActors);
	else
		print("No Vicinity box found!");

	return CollectedActors;
}

If I execute the GetVicinityInteractables()-Function in Blueprints, it always prints out “No Vicinity box found!” … does anybody know, what the problem could be? Thanks in advance