Law enforcement agencies from five countries, with support from Europol and Eurojust, have dismantled a transnational crime syndicate that defrauded over 100 individuals of more than 3 million through fake investment schemes, Infosecurity Magazine reports.
The fraud, which dates back nearly three years, began with a German couple reporting a scam and culminated in coordinated raids in Belgium, Latvia, Albania, Cyprus, and Israel. Europol said the network used call centers to impersonate brokers, enticing victims with phony investment returns and fabricated profit visuals to encourage larger deposits. While two suspects were arrested during a 2022 operation, a second wave of action in May 2025 led to additional arrests and evidence seizures. Authorities are still analyzing the materials and anticipate further developments. This case sheds light on the growing threat of investment fraud, which the FBI identified as the top-earning cybercrime in 2024, outpacing even business email compromise schemes and often overlapping with romance-based scams.
The fraud, which dates back nearly three years, began with a German couple reporting a scam and culminated in coordinated raids in Belgium, Latvia, Albania, Cyprus, and Israel. Europol said the network used call centers to impersonate brokers, enticing victims with phony investment returns and fabricated profit visuals to encourage larger deposits. While two suspects were arrested during a 2022 operation, a second wave of action in May 2025 led to additional arrests and evidence seizures. Authorities are still analyzing the materials and anticipate further developments. This case sheds light on the growing threat of investment fraud, which the FBI identified as the top-earning cybercrime in 2024, outpacing even business email compromise schemes and often overlapping with romance-based scams.
