Germany wants to extradite an online scammer arrested in Cyprus on Thursday, involved in financial fraud worth €300 mln.
A large-scale online investment scam was dismantled last week with the perpetrators allegedly running a fraud scheme that used fake investment platforms to deprive victims of at least €300 mln.
At the request of the German authorities in Saxony, a suspect was arrested in Cyprus in a coordinated action. The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) assisted the German and Serbian authorities in setting up a joint investigation team (JIT) into the case.
The General Public Prosecution Office of Dresden and the Police Directorate of Chemnitz started investigations in June 2020, following complaints from online investors. They had been lured to professionally designed websites, promising high returns on low investments.
Victims only received a maximum of 3% of their initial investment, if any money was returned at all. Through the websites, the perpetrators managed to gain access to personal data and bank account details, creating fake customer accounts to lend credibility to the scheme.
To date, around 120 German victims are known, who have lost approximately €12 mln. However, further assessments by German investigators indicate that there are many more victims worldwide, with the fraud totaling at least €300 mln. or as high as €500 mln
As result of these investigations, a number of suspects have been identified, including the one alleged main perpetrator, who has now been arrested. Investigations into the fraud are ongoing.
Due to links with Serbia, a JIT was set up with the help of the Eurojust agency in February this year, to ensure close cooperation between German and Serbian judicial and law enforcement investigators.
Eurojust also organised four coordination meetings with participation of German, Cypriot and Serbian representatives to prepare for the action day and assisted with the execution of European Investigation Orders and requests for Mutual Legal Assistance to Serbia.
During the action day, 22 places were searched in Cyprus and Serbia. Furthermore, computer equipment, hard drives, mobile phones and digital data have been seized. Germany will ask the Cypriot authorities to surrender the arrested suspect.