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Specialized Prosecutor’s Office Photo: Archive
More than 250 victims of fraud in Germany for more than 7 million euros
Five other people have been arrested in Bulgaria in the investigation of an international group for fraud through the fictitious trade in financial instruments, announced the prosecution.
By decrees of the prosecutors of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office and the District Prosecutor’s Offices in Pernik and Blagoevgrad, who were entrusted with the execution of the orders, the five were detained for up to 72 hours.
On March 16, 2021, in the territory of the cities of Sofia, Pernik and Razlog, officials from the Cybersecurity Department of the General Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime, prosecutors from the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SP) and investigators from the Investigations Department of the SP carried out additional actions to investigate the neutralized in 2020 an international organized crime group for fraudulent fraud through financial instruments, computer crimes and money laundering.
The procedural investigation actions were carried out in execution of a European Investigation Order issued by the Bamberg Prosecutor General’s Office – Central Authority for Cybercrime in Bavaria, and are a continuation the large-scale joint operation of the German, Austrian, Serbian and Bulgarian police and judicial authorities against the international criminal network on April 2, 2020.
According to European arrest warrants issued by the Bamberg prosecutor’s office, five people were arrested in the country: three Bulgarians, a Czech citizen and a citizen of the Republic of Montenegro.
The two foreigners were arrested in court with court rulings. Two others, implicated in complicity in the criminal network, are under house arrest and one under “subscription.”
During the searches of 6 addresses, 5 cars and personal searches, documents related to criminal activity were found and seized, as well as a large amount of computer and telecommunications equipment. In the course of the investigative actions, the Bulgarian Office of the Agency for Legal Cooperation in the EU – Eurojust provided support in the exchange of information with the associated investigative bodies and the coordination of the actions.
During the joint actions to neutralize the group on April 2, 2020, three Bulgarian citizens and a German citizen, alleged leader of the criminal network, were arrested in Bulgaria. Another 5 people were arrested in Serbia. In Germany, the group’s bank account was blocked with more than 2.5 million euros. More than thirty bank accounts have been placed under surveillance, personal property and money have been seized.
The group’s investigation began in 2019 by the Bamberg prosecutor’s office, together with a team from the Austrian Central Prosecutor’s Office to combat economic crime and corruption. The reason is that in Germany more than 250 victims of fraud have been identified for more than 7 million euros. In Austria there have been about 850 victims with more than 2.2 million euros. The group’s victims have been established as citizens of many European countries. The damage is assumed to be many times greater, as not all fraud victims have filed complaints.
Participants of the criminal network encouraged their potential victims – “investors” by email and with billboards to register on an unlicensed platform for digital trading of binary options, cryptocurrencies and other financial instruments created by the group.
The initial registration fee was 250 to 300 euros. Those who responded were immediately “attacked” with high-income offers from so-called agents and “personal intermediaries” at call centers located mainly in Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine. Each “investor” was given access to a bogus platform application to monitor how their money “increased” from realized trading profits.
Virtually all the amounts invested have been transferred to accounts in different parts of the world. After a series of subsequent bank transactions, in order to launder money, the funds were concentrated in accounts controlled by the international criminal group and distributed among its participants.
Bulgarian prosecutors and police received high marks for their work in the investigation from the German National Office in Eurojust, Europol, the Bamberg Prosecutor General’s Office, the Austrian Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption and the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office.
Information on the actions of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the CDCOC on the ongoing investigation of the international criminal group was published on the Eurojust website on March 18, 2021.
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