Investigators released further details today following the strike against Internet asset fraud. But the work is only just beginning.
11.10.2021, 13:40
Region. In the past week, investigators from Braunschweig and Rostock, in cooperation with their international colleagues, struck a blow against investment fraud on the Internet (regionalHeute.de reported). At a press conference on Monday, those responsible gave information about further details. It became clear: Even after the day of access last Wednesday. the so-called “Action Day”, the investigation is still in its infancy.
Everyone has probably seen it before: Internet advertising in which celebrities advertise surefire methods of making money in seeming press reports. If you click on this – of course fake – article, you will be directed to a page where trading in so-called binary options is conducted. That means you can bet money on whether an event occurs or not. This business model is generally controversial, but not illegal everywhere. But in the case that is currently in the sights of the investigators, the providers are pure fraudsters. The victims would be induced by skilled brokers to invest more and more money. But winnings are never paid out.
The crime as a service
Two cases in parallel in Göttingen and Rostock set the ball rolling. While the injured party in Rostock got off lightly with 500 euros in damage, the victim had lost 250,000 euros in Göttingen. Other similar cases quickly became known, both in the Braunschweig region and in Rostock. The realization matured that one could only be successful in close cooperation with the investigative authorities. The problem is that the perpetrators are internationally networked and that there is a clear division of tasks. While the software was presumably developed in Israel, the call centers were operated in Bulgaria and the IT was in Ukraine. Money laundering was another branch. This method can be described as “Crime as a Service”, according to Mario Krause from the Cybercrime Commissioner at the Braunschweig Police Department. One can only counter this with “Investigation as a Service”. Accordingly, the investigating authorities also concentrated on one sub-aspect.
After almost two years of preparatory work, “Action Day” has now taken place. With the support of international colleagues, 400 servers were confiscated, various accounts were frozen, and numerous platforms were taken offline. One person was arrested. However, this was released after paying a bail. An extradition request has been made. As the investigators pointed out, the real work would only begin now. The seized servers would have to be evaluated, the individuals would have to be proven to be guilty. For this it was important that the search operations were carried out suddenly. In this way, possible perpetrators could be caught in the act and computers could be secured unencrypted. The investigators had little hope of whether or not the injured party would get some of their money back. The funds were quickly converted into so-called cryptocurrencies, which can hardly be tracked. The evaluation of the frozen accounts could possibly bring more clarity.
High number of unreported cases
The damage done by the fraudsters and what could be prevented by the action that has now taken place are only vague figures. However, it is assumed that there are around 1,000 injured parties and around 2 million euros in damage annually in Germany. Worldwide it is 500 million euros annually. But the number of unreported cases is high. “Many do not even know that they are injured,” said the investigators.
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