Millions of victims worldwide have lost scams up to $50 billion between 2012 and 2018 with binary options according to estimates by the authorities. Currently, in the United Stated major trial cases are underway against the Israeli operators of these binary options scams. The former CEO of scam operator Yukom Communications, the Israeli Lee Elbaz, was found guilty of fraud by a U.S. jury in August 2019. She expects a long prison sentence. Another 5 former Yukom employees have already pleaded guilty and will receive prison sentences and high fines.
What Yukom Communications is in the USA is Gal Barak‘s E&G Bulgaria in Europe. Through E&G Bulgaria (formerly E&G Finance), Gal Barak and his Israeli co-conspirators have operated scam broker sites and illegal boiler rooms in Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegowina and Kosovo.
According to FinTelegram data, these schemes produces more than 30,000 victims who could have lost up to $200 million. The Austrian authorities have been investigating since 2017 and arrested the German Uwe Lenhoff at the beginning of 2019. An EU arrest warrant was issued against Gal Barak. He was last placed under house arrest in Sofia, Bulgarian. Now he is to be extradited to Austria.
This nothing less than a big breakthrough in the fight of EU authorities against scams and cybercrimes. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, Israeli perpetrators have exported their binary options and broker scams across the world. authorities’ investigation of the operators of the Israeli Scammer network. One of the masterminds behind the scam network around E&G Bulgaria and the schemes XTraderFX, SafeMarkets, Golden Markets or OptionStarsGlobal, the Israeli Gal Barak, will be extradited to Austria.
For months, the Austrian authorities have been working on the extradition of Gal Barak via the competent court in Sofia, Bulgarian. Most recently, Gal Barak had married his Bulgarian life companion and scam partner Marina Andreeva (now Marina Barak). Barak apparently wanted to prevent the extradition and underline his connection to Bulgaria.
The criminal investigation revealed that Marina Barak acted as Chief Financial Officer of the fraud plans and coordinated money laundering. She is also one of the suspects alongside her husband Gal Barak.
After the arrest of the German scam operator Uwe Lenhoff at the beginning of 2019, Gal Barak is the second success of the Austrian authorities in the fight against scams and the Bulgarian scam. While Barak’s Israeli partner Gery “Gabi” Shalon is indicted in the United States for the hacking of JP Morgan and other financial institutions as well as for securities fraud and money-laundering, Barak’s Russian partner Vladislav Smirnov has not yet been bothered by the authorities.
