The accused is said to be a member of a gang of fraudsters.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf The call centers are the heart of the scam: this is where the supposed brokers start their daily acquisitions. On the phone, they convince customers to invest money in their financial products via online platforms. Only: The investments never take place, the money is diverted directly.
A suspected operator of such a call center has had to answer to the Saarbrücken district court since Tuesday. According to information from the Saarländisches Rundfunk, the accused operated a telephone switchboard in Kosovo together with another person.
There was already a raid there in the summer of 2019 – a short time later the accused was arrested in Albania. There he was initially in extradition custody. He has been waiting for his trial in Germany since summer 2020.
The defendant is accused of being a member of a gang that operates a number of call centers. The platforms for which clients are acquired in these centers are called X.Markets.com, Option888 or Tradeinvest90. Even if these platforms can no longer be accessed on the Internet, new ones are constantly being added. The accusation is commercial gang fraud.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
In most cases, victims are first asked to invest small amounts in products such as derivatives. This is a “one-off offer” or a “surefire investment”. Depot statements are falsified and chart developments are simulated.
After initial losses, the brokers ask the customers to add more money to compensate for the existing losses. In the beginning, a few hundred euros add up to several thousand.
In the cases before the Saarbrücken district court, it is about a damage sum of around 42 million euros and 1100 victims. On average, the damage is 35,000 euros per person. However, the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher – online investment fraud is considered a criminal business worth billions.
Investigations have been going on for three years
German authorities have been investigating the suspected fraudster network with international cooperation for three and a half years – sometimes with success. In 2019, two backers were arrested, one Israeli and one German. While the Israeli, nicknamed “Wolf of Sofia”, was arrested in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the German was pulled out of his blue Bentley and arrested by the Austrian special police unit Cobra in Neustift in the Stubaital.
In October 2019, the German suspect was extradited to Germany. He should also be tried in Saarbrücken. However, two days before the trial against the Israeli began in Vienna, the suspect from Germany was found dead in custody. His death left some mysteries. According to the autopsy report, he died of a drug overdose. However, it was unclear whether it was a suicide or an accidental overdose.
As a result, the public prosecutor’s office in Saarbrücken investigated 13 other suspects. Among other things, against the now accused.
The Israeli, on the other hand, was sentenced to four years in prison in September 2020 by the Vienna Regional Court for commercial fraud. After taking into account pre-trial detention and house arrest, he has since been provisionally released. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Meanwhile, the Central Office for Cybercrime Bavaria (ZCB), which is based at the Bamberg Public Prosecutor’s Office, was successful: In January, an accomplice of the “Wolf of Sofia” was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison by the Munich I Regional Court for commercial and gang fraud. The man, also from Israel, was a leading member of the gang as “Vice President Sales”. It was the first time that a trial had taken place in Germany.
More: Accomplice of the “Wolf of Sofia” in Munich sentenced to almost seven years in prison