European Police Close Sofia-based Online Trading Scam

The Hague, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Oct, 2021 ) :European police on Monday said they had closed an online trading scam run from Bulgaria in which German investors lost millions of euros.

Bulgarian, Cypriot, Dutch, German and Ukrainian law officers carried out searches on Wednesday, shutting down two illegal call centres in Sofia and arresting at least one "high-value target" in Cyprus, the Hague-based Europol said.

"Operating between May 2019 and September 2021, the criminal network lured German investors into making transactions worth a total of at least 15 million Euros ($17.3 million)," it added in a statement.

Using over 250 online domain Names to advertise fake financial services, the criminals used some 100 employees to lure investors using pre-written scripts.

"Initial profits shown in the user interface encouraged the clients to invest large sums of money," Europol said.

"However, clients did not receive payment of their winnings or a credit balance once they requested it," said the policing agency which helped to coordinate the cross-border operation together with its judicial twin agency Eurojust.

A further probe showed that the most of the call centre employees did not know they were involved in fraud.

Earlier this year European police arrested 11 suspects for a similar scheme in which they stole some 30 million euros.