In a joint statement on Monday, officials stated that German investigators and banking watchdog BaFin who closed almost 1,400 illegal domains in Eastern Europe that had been used in cybertrading fraud.
The investigation, ‘Dubbed Operation Heracles,’ was carried out by the Baden-Württemberg state criminal police and BaFin in an attempt to bring down on the individuals who helped in the utilization of false trading accounts.
The users of the websites were referred to brokers who were based in call centers located in foreign countries and would persuade them to invest huge amounts of money. The authorities said it took them months to realize that their money was not being invested.
Chief Executive Director Resolution and Money Laundering Prevention of BaFin, Birgit Rodolphe, added that “The perpetrators are becoming increasingly professional. They use artificial intelligence to churn out illegal websites and use them to lure investors into traps.”
This action comes after a prior closure of 800 illegal domains in June of this year. Since then, 20 million attempts have been made to access them. The authorities reported that “The measures significantly weakened the criminal actors by specifically disabling their technical infrastructure.”
