In an international investment fraud with a two-digit million euro damage volume, the respective German law enforcement agency and supporting agencies in other jurisdictions are looking for victims and witnesses. In Germany, the main perpetrator of an international group of perpetrators was arrested. The German investigating authorities have been able to locate victims in the USA, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Law enforcement asks for additional victim reports and witness statements.
The Investment Fraud Case
In 2020 and 2021, an organized group of perpetrators posed as representatives of supposed Arab investors to companies that needed financing capital and were looking for backers. To suggest legitimacy to the entrepreneurs – the later victims – these pseudo-investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) appeared under fake company names cloning real companies.
By promising enormous future investment sums, the victims were manipulated into making various advance payments to the alleged investors or their representatives. The perpetrators claimed that these payments were necessary as collateral or to boost future investments (travel expenses, fees, expert opinions, insurance, investments).
The fake company names used by these pseudo-investors in the present case were:
- (The) Emirates Net ([email protected])
- Gulf Holding Foundation Inc. (Gulf Foundation for short) ([email protected])
- Emirates Holding – An Emirates Group Corporation (in short: Emirates Holding Group) ([email protected])
- Pacific Ventures LLC ([email protected] or [email protected])
- EIN International (in short: EIN)
The victims’ payments were made to bank accounts of EIN International (EIN) at Emirates NBD Bank (IBAN: AE930260001012218835501) or to Alsediq Commercial Broker (a/k/a Alsedeq or Alsedq), also at Emirates NBD Bank (IBAN: AE530260001012279727001).
In the end, the promised financing did not materialize. So far, the German investigating authorities have been able to locate victims in the USA, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. The currently known amount of damage is around ten million euros, and investigators estimate that the number of unreported cases is considerably higher.
Due to the mode used, it is very likely that there are (further) victims of this investment fraud worldwide – also in Austria. At the request of the Kaiserslautern public prosecutor’s office, the Federal Criminal Police Office in Vienna is publishing the search for victims and witnesses throughout Austria.
Report Information
If you have any information about the scam, please let the tip-offs know by calling the Kaiserslautern police at 0049 631 369 2620 or by emailing [email protected].
Alternatively, you can send the information via our anonymous whistleblower system Whistle42, and to FinTelegram. We will forward this to the investigating authorities.
