Investigators estimated that the network has defrauded its German victims of a total of €1.5 million
Europol busted major investment fraud network. Source: unsplash.com
Europol has revealed it supported a hit on a large investment fraud network operating in several EU Member States.
Lithuanian Police led the investigation along with the involved law enforcement authorities from Germany, Sweden, and the UK that were also assisted by Eurojust.
According to information, the whole operation resulted in 5 arrests: 4 in Lithuania and 1 in Sweden.
Besides, accounts worth more than €1.2 million were frozen: €500 000 in Lithuania and €700 000 in other countries).
According to Europol, the criminal network was specifically targeting academics in Germany. The victims were interested in investing their funds in saving accounts hosted on foreign online deposit platforms.
They found the offers themselves and applied for these services. What is more, they sent deposits to individual accounts opened under their names.
In reality, the accounts belonged to Lithuanian companies running the scam. They offered savings accounts, where the funds were to be deposited for a longer period, usually between 6months and 3 years. They used this trick to earn enough time to escape with the funds and hide their traces.
Once received, the funds were transferred to accounts in the other EU Member States with part of it being cashed out at ATMs in Sweden.
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