Supported by investigators from Austria, Germany, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Ukraine for over months Eurojust and Europol have unearthed what appears to be the biggest forex scam in Europe committed by an organized crime group (OCG).
In Feb. 2019 few arrested scammers revealed the names of some of the fraudulent/fake sites that were closed (sealed) down by the concerned regulatory authority of that country.
Five suspects were arrested in March 2020 in Bulgaria which further led to nine more suspects being arrested in Serbia and Bulgaria in April 2020. These arrests lead to a seizure of luxury goods and nearly 50 million euros worth of cars in Ukraine in December 2020.
All these arrests brought to light an organized scam group (OCG) that is targeting forex scams across the whole of Europe,
Eurojust, a European Union’s Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation supported by Europol, the European Union’s Law Enforcement Agency along with local regulatory authorities discovered a large group people that are operating a forex scam.
These OCG operated through the creation of false or spurious forex websites that falsely claimed huge profits, encouraging and tempting unsuspecting innocent investors to trust them with their money.
Many European investors registered on these sites were the victim of these forex scam websites. Most of the sufferers were German-speaking online investors.
The fabricated companies were fronted by their websites operated mainly from Ukraine and Bulgaria.
More than 8.5 million Euros were stolen from more than 350 victims who have been identified.
How did the investigation flow?
In Germany, Public Prosecutor General in Bamberg initiated the investigation in 2019. The Public Prosecutor General put together complaints from many victims from Germany, Austria, and the rest of Europe.
On further investigation, it was revealed that the OCG scammed people with started with a low initial payment ranging from 250 to 300 Euros.
They put up investment advertisements that were for financial instruments like cryptocurrency, binary options, foreign currency, and CFDs. Once the investor made the initial or first payment the fake brokers who were employed in call centers located across Europe came into play. They contacted the victim’s in their language thereby they gained the trust of investors.
Then as per the plan, the investors made substantial profits. The profits that the investors made were generated by being misled by fake website stimuli. The investors started believing they are getting positive returns. Clients were encouraged and persuaded on phone to make larger investments to earn good profits. These phone callers were trained brokers and knew how to talk and answer questions politely.
In reality, the investments were never made. The money so obtained was divided among scammers. The funds deposited by investors were never used for capital investments. The trading platform that was visible to investors was pure deception.
Action day: April 2020
Many months went into preparation for the operation. On the action day 02 April 2020 investigators simultaneously raided offices in Bulgaria, Sofia, Serbia, and Belgrade. They arrested two women and seven men between the age of 24 and 48 years. Almost 2.5 million Euros were confiscated and the payment service provider was Wirecard.
It was a heavy blow to the scammers. The investigators came to know that the organization was operating in two different groups but worked combined.
Fake online trading sites
The first group operated several online trading sites like Cryptopoint, XtraderFX, OptionGlobalStars, and SafeMarkets.
The second group of scam brokers dealt with management. That is Fibonetix, Trade Capital, and Nobel Trade.
Modus operandi used by scammers
- Virtually the modus operandi was near identical with some small variations.
- The scammers created a fake trading platform for cryptocurrency scams
and financial instruments scams.
- The scammers guaranteed all the victims that they have made safe investments.
- The scammers purported that the investor was insured against big losses.
- In beginning, the results were impressive, which encouraged the victim to deposit large sums of money.
- At some point in time, the scammers showed that the victim is trading at loss, and to cover up the loss additional investments were to be made by investors.
The scammers would channel the gain (ill-gotten wealth) proceeds into companies that will launder the money. Forex scams are quite prevalent nowadays.
In case you have traded with any of these brokers do not hesitate to contact us. All Scam Reports are there for your clarification and advice. We deal with forex scam recovery cases regularly and with success. Scam reports are available online for your help at https://allscamreports.com/. Do read it before investing.
Fund recovery is possible if you have been scammed. Do keep all the correspondence with the scammers as proof and evidence.
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