German authorities have dismantled more than 1,400 illegal websites linked to cybertrading fraud across Eastern Europe, the country’s financial regulator BaFin and state investigators announced Monday.
The joint operation, dubbed Operation Heracles, was carried out by the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office in coordination with BaFin, Europol, and Bulgarian law enforcement. The effort targeted networks promoting fraudulent trading accounts through sophisticated online schemes.
According to officials, the websites redirected users to brokers operating from overseas call centers, where victims were persuaded to invest large sums of money. Many investors only realized months later that their funds had not been invested.
“The perpetrators are becoming increasingly professional,” said Birgit Rodolphe of BaFin. “They’re using artificial intelligence to mass-produce illegal websites and lure unsuspecting investors.”
This latest action builds on a June operation that took down 800 similar domains, which have since received more than 20 million attempted visits, authorities said.
Officials added that disabling the servers and online infrastructure had “significantly weakened the criminal networks” behind the schemes.