SPublic prosecutors and investigators from Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have been on the trail of investment fraud on trading platforms on the Internet since 2019. As investigators from the Cybercrime Commissariat announced on Thursday in Braunschweig, there have been successful searches abroad in the complex surrounding the online platform “Fx-leader.com”. With the support of Eurojust and Europol, five main suspects were arrested in Romania and Bulgaria at the end of March.
The accused are now in custody, the investigators speak of the “leadership” of an international gang. One is confident that the suspects could also be charged, said Manuel Recha from the responsible public prosecutor’s office in Göttingen in front of journalists. Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) spoke of an impressive investigation success. The operation shows that the police are able to use technology and experts to clear up such complexes across national borders.
Cooperation among investigators
It is the second internationally coordinated attack on organized fraud against private investors. They had invested in allegedly safe contracts for difference and binary options on commodities or indices, but according to investigators, the funds were never invested. The backers are often based in Israel and Cyprus, while the call centers are in south-eastern Europe.
As reported in October 2021, more than 100 investigators had commercial and private premises searched in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Ukraine and the Netherlands. In the months that followed, it was said that the criminal structures and individual acts could be further clarified.
However, the prosecutors had to correct the initially estimated financial loss of at least 500 million euros. The investigators are now assuming 33,000 victims worldwide and damage of 89 million euros. In Germany, 5,500 investors are said to have lost around 22 million euros.