Five people linked to the criminal group operating an online investment fraud scheme were arrested, as Europol and Eurojust made coordinated efforts to bring down the crime ring that has already victimized at least 33,000 individuals in different countries. The total amount of money taken by the cybercriminals from their victims has already amounted to €89 million, or almost $98 million.
Authorities Search for Online Fraud Suspects in Three Different Countries
As reported by Abijita, the latest operations that led to the arrest of the suspects happened last month. The operations were quested by the German authorities, bringing the search to 15 different locations across Bulgaria, Romania and Israel. Specifically, five illegal call centers were discovered, which are likely being used by criminals for their fraudulent operations.
The recent coordinated action by the authorities is a follow-up effort to arrest the people behind the online fraud scheme in 2021. According to the evidence gathered by Europol, the crime ring was able to lure investors using web and social media banner advertisements. The investors would give small amounts of up to €250 as initial investments, believing these would result in bigger returns.
Furthermore, the victims were easily persuaded to follow the fraudster's instructions to make investments because of the very low-interest rates.
"The victims were then contacted by so-called personal financial advisors, who promised even higher profits on bigger investments. These higher investments were then subsequently lost, and the illegal profits were paid into the perpetrators' bank accounts," Europol said.
Europol also reported that the online fraud scheme had been operating between 2019 and 2021. In 2021, when the first coordinated actions to nab the group took place, it was discovered that the suspects have been creating illegal call center companies in Bulgaria and Romania, according to Bleeping Computer.
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Crime Organizations Behind Online Investment Scam Has Been Operating For Years in Several European Countries
The initial estimate for the financial damage by the crime ring was around €15 mullion. However, their investigations since 2021 have determined that the amount of money sequestered from the victims was much higher. So far, the group has already victimized around 33,000 individuals online, and the authorities hope that the recent arrest of the 5 suspects would somehow paralyze the group's criminal operations.
Eurojust coordinated with Europol to set up a joint investigation team, which began to look into more evidence of the group's fraudulent activities in January 2023. Two coordinated meetings were also produced to prepare for the next steps leading to the arrest of the online investment scammers.
Eurojust was responsible for the enactment of European Arrest Warrants, European Investigation Orders and requests for Mutual Legal Assistance. On the other hand, Europol spearheaded a dedicated Operational Task Force that deployed experts to Israel to coordinate with Eurojust's investigations.
As for the recent arrest of the suspects, the operations discovered high-value assets that include luxury watches, electronic equipment, cash, bitcoins and bank cards.
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