The Israeli scammer scene is in fear. German law enforcement authorities have decided to hunt down and shut down the Israeli scammer scene worldwide. They target scam-facilitating broker platforms, payment processors, and marketing companies. In August 2021, German law enforcement raided PandaTS; early October, they raided offices in Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus, and Israel to crack down on an Israeli cybercrime organization and its scams. Four suspects have been arrested recently. One of them is Pavel Kotler, allegedly one of Gery Shalon‘s key finance guys. The Israeli Snitching Game is on; and the latest rumors say that broker platform operator TraderSoft closed down.
Arresting and extraditing key people
Financial Magnates and The Times of Israel reported that the respective Jerusalem court had unsealed the names of the alleged four people that were arrested during the law enforcement action day on charges of their involvement in the FX Leader cybercrime organization:
- Pavel Kotler, 47, of Holon;
- Yuri Dashevsky, 33, of Kfar Saba;
- Nimrod Blachman, 33, hometown unknown; and
- Chen Malka, 31, of Tel Aviv
These four people are soon to be extradited to Germany, where they are likely to be charged with investment fraud and money laundering as operators of scams. More Action Days and arrests are to follow, insiders say. Currently, the law enforcement agents wait for the results of the forensic analysis of the seized data from PandaTS and the other location they raided.
A snitching cybercrime mastermind
We have reported that Israeli Gery Shalon, indicted in the U.S. for cyberfinance crime, is also listed as a key suspect in connection with the two European-Israeli cybercrime organizations surrounding GetFinancial and Gal Barak‘s shattered E&G Bulgaria. Reportedly, European law enforcement authorities have asked the FBI for assistance in this regard. Since then, Gery Shalon has reportedly started to cooperate with the European authorities and snitched on his co-conspirators. Shalon is said to have been in Israel at least until recently. His information facilitated the Action Days in the first place.
A former associate of Shalon confirmed to FinTelegram that the now-arrested Pavel Kotler is one of Shalon’s key financial people. Shalon’s information allegedly led to his arrest, one insider reports. Shalon’s brother-in-law, attorney David Bar-El, is also said to be massively involved in the GetFinancial cybercrime organization and is listed as a suspect. FinTelegram has seen documents that massively implicate David Bar-El. They have been leaked to the relevant authorities.
The Israeli snitching game is on! Suddenly, everybody wants to become a crown witness to avoid prison! Law enforcement agents applaud! And Gery Shalon operates fake news websites blaming FinTelegram and the kitchen sink for this snitching game. Not me, he says but, sorry, we know better! Shalon has a well-known reputation in the snitching game. The Daily Beast called him the “Tony Soprano of Cybecrime.”
TraderSoft closed down?
Most recently, Simona Weinglass reported in The Times of Israel that the brokerage platform TraderSoft was used by some scams of the cybercrime organization around GetFinancial and FX Leader. Last we heard from Israel, the broker platform and software company TraderSoft is said to have shut down.
Gery Shalon, along with Gal Barak and Uwe Lenhoff, was also one of the shareholders of the defunct Tradologic platform on which more than 200 brands ran in 2017. Most of them were illegal brokers without a license and scams. Tradologic no longer exists. Neither does SpotOption, which was shut down after the U.S. authorities investigated Yukom. Our prediction is that PandaTS will be the next platform on the list of the “retired facilitators.“
We would like to know more about this. If you have any information about TraderSoft and its people, we would request you to share it with us.
