Cyber fraud
Searches in Berlin and Cyprus due to online fraud
They wanted to invest their money profitably via the Internet – and never saw it again. Around 170 people from Germany have already filed a complaint. Now there was an international search.
A gang of fraudsters is said to have defrauded investors of 10 million euros with false investments. As the Bavarian Cybercrime Central Office, based in Bamberg, announced, a dozen business and private premises in Germany and Cyprus were searched and four men between the ages of 26 and 39 were arrested. They are accused of not investing funds entrusted to them as agreed. The group of perpetrators is being investigated for commercial gang fraud in the form of cyber trading.
Cryptocurrency scams
According to the Central Cybercrime Office, cyber trading fraud has become very common in recent years. Alleged financial experts lured their potential victims into supposedly lucrative financial products, predominantly in connection with cryptocurrencies. In fact, the deposits are not invested. False online platforms are used to deceive victims into winnings that are supposed to lead to further investments.
The group currently under investigation is said to have operated at least 13 such fraudulent trading platforms since August 2022, including Halder-Bay, Advancia, Avanchie, Bitdach and Wega-Bay. According to the Bavarian Cybercrime Central Office, around 170 victims from Germany have so far filed a complaint.
Advertisement from the Upper Palatinate
The searches focused on Berlin and the Cypriot port city of Limassol. The action was coordinated by Eurojust, the European Union agency for cooperation in criminal matters. Europol also provided support. The police investigation is being conducted by the Amberg Criminal Investigation Department in Upper Palatinate, as an injured party filed a complaint there at the end of last year. She had invested more than 30,000 euros on the Halder-Bay investment platform.
An investor from North Rhine-Westphalia suffered the highest individual loss. According to investigators, he was cheated out of over three million euros. According to the Bavarian Cybercrime Central Office, further investigations will take even longer due to the complexity of the perpetrator structures.
dpa
Source: Stern
