Today, the German Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bamberg issued the press release on last week’s law enforcement actions in Israel. On 19 October 2021, the Cybercrime Central Office of Bavaria (ZCB) conducted comprehensive law enforcement actions against members of a cybercrime organization, who are accused of having been active since 2015, especially from Georgia and Israel. They allegedly have defrauded persons in a large number of countries of millions of euros via cybertrading scams. A total of 7 arrest warrants were successfully executed in Georgia and 4 in Israel.
Brands and CySEC
The proceedings took their starting point in Germany when an investor had become a victim of the investment platform GetFinancial in October 2018 and filed a criminal complaint. The investigations brought to light that this cybercrime organization also operated the scam TradeSolid, SolidCFD, IntegraOption, FXIntegra, TechOption, TradeGF, ProCapitalMarkets, BitCapitalMarkets, NordCapitalMarkets, MyCoinBanking, GainFinTech, AccepTrade, ProfitsTrade, CoinsBanking, TradeLegal and FXLaws.
At least two other platforms, which were to be operated under a license already applied for from the Cypriot financial regulator CySEC, had already been completed by the grouping and prepared for active operation.
The arrests
During the Action Day under the coordinating leadership of Senior Public Prosecutor Nino Goldbeck, 4 Israeli, 6 Georgian, and 1 Russian national were arrested. 15 objects were searched and extensive evidence in the form of data carriers and documents was seized. In total, more than 30 witnesses and defendants were questioned about the crimes.
According to the press release, the arrested individuals are accused of being part of the leadership group of the so-called GetFinancial cybercrime organization.
