US EditionGermany arrests 18 in international crackdown on online fraud, German authorities say
- On Tuesday, German Federal Criminal Police said they carried out Operation Chargeback, targeting alleged fraud and money laundering networks across Germany, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United States and Cyprus.
- BKA Vice President Martina Link said the criminal networks used phishing and data leaks to steal bank details from 2016 to 2021 and relied on hundreds of shell companies mostly registered in the UK or Cyprus, while fake subscription websites created 19 million subscriptions.
- Authorities say the networks caused hundreds of millions in losses, noting fraudulent charges hit about 4.3 million bank cards from 193 countries and about 150 million euros laundered through German accounts.
- Authorities will give more details at a news conference on Wednesday, and Koblenz prosecutors said the probe focuses on `44 suspects from Germany, the United Kingdom, Latvia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, the United States, and Canada, aged between 32 and 74`.
- Deliberately small, obscure charges allowed withdrawals to be hidden, and the phony websites generated 19 million subscriptions while North Korea was noted among implicated countries.
34 Articles
34 Articles
50 Euro debits, porn-fake offers and compromised payment services: how investigators expose a million-dollar fraud from the Westerwald to North Korea.
They are said to have abused credit card data on a massive scale: via faked websites, the fraudsters booked small monthly contributions. The damage: more than 300 million euros. Coordinated by the BKA, investigators have established several suspects in searches in Europe, Asia and America.
In a coordinated action, investigators have taken action against worldwide fraud networks. 18 suspects have been arrested, there are supposed to be millions of victims.
In cooperation with international authorities, the Federal Criminal Office has uncovered a worldwide financial fraud ring.
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