Authorities in seven countries arrested seven people and seized more than 100 servers in an operation against an online investment fraud network, Eurojust and Europol announced on November 3. Officers searched 17 locations, including a call center in Kosovo, and are seeking the surrender or extradition of the suspects to Germany, where the investigation began.
The operators ran trading websites that looked legitimate to lure people into investing in cryptocurrency, forex and stocks. The sites showed inflated profits after a small initial deposit, and so-called brokers allegedly pressured victims to send larger sums. When victims tried to withdraw, they met repeated delays and obstruction, and the operators then disappeared. Estimated losses exceed 4 million euros, and the release does not say how many victims there were.
A separate company in Cyprus and Israel allegedly supplied the fraudulent websites to other criminal groups, and suspected clients ran call centers in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. Germany, Cyprus, Finland, Albania, Israel, Kosovo and North Macedonia took part, and Poland is involved through a joint investigation team with Germany and Albania. The investigation began in 2022 when a German couple reported that they could not withdraw their supposed profits. Eurojust coordinated the judicial side, while Europol provided analysis, database checks and digital forensics.