Authorities from seven countries seized more than 100 servers and arrested seven suspects of investment fraud that may have costed victims in at least 50 countries more than $4.6 million.
Tuesday’s operation, led by German prosecutors and supported by Europol and Eurojust, targeted a company that operated in Cyprus and Israel and supplied platforms to criminal groups running call centers in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia.
The scheme relied on misleading online advertisements promising high returns from cryptocurrency, foreign exchange and stock trading. Victims were encouraged to make larger deposits after their accounts showed fictitious profits, but then withdrawals were subsequently blocked. The investigation began in 2022 after a German couple reported being unable to recover their investments.
Source: OCCRP · 2026-11-03