European Police Bust €3m Investment Fraud Ring

Law enforcement agencies in five regions have joined forces to take down an organized crime group responsible for defrauding scores of victims, according to Europol.

The European police group claimed that at least 100 victims have been defrauded to the tune of over €3m ($3.4m), by a criminal network offering them high returns on fake investment opportunities.

The operation began nearly three years ago in Germany, when a married couple reportedly notified local police that they had fallen for the scam. An action day on September 6, 2022, led to searches in Belgium and Latvia, and the arrest of two suspects.

Crucially, evidence was seized which helped police identify seven other members of the network, including the managers of call centers which were used in the scams.

Read more on investment fraud: European Police Bust Multimillion-Dollar Investment Fraud Gang.

It’s unclear how victims were initially approached – often in these cases it’s via cold calling, online ads or unsolicited messages. However, after agreeing to make a small deposit, the victims would be manipulated into making larger deposits by call center agents posing as brokers, according to Europol.

Fake graphics illustrating made-up profits also helped persuade them to invest more.

Of course, there was never any investment scheme and the money went direct to the organized crime gang.

It took over two-and-a-half years before a second action day, on Tuesday May 13, 2025, when police conducted eight searches simultaneously in Albania, Cyprus and Israel.

One suspect was arrested in Cyprus and police also seized evidence including electronic devices, documents and cash, Europol said.

Working with criminal justice agency Eurojust, the group supported law enforcement agencies in Israel, the UK, Cyprus, Albania and Germany.

The seized evidence will now be analyzed, with the expectation of further action in the future. This hints that there may be more members of the group at large, although Europol claimed that police had now “dismantled” the network.

Investment fraud was the highest-earning cybercrime type of 2024, according to the FBI. The Feds received nearly 48,000 complaints last year, resulting in victim losses of over $6.5bn. By comparison, the next highest-grossing cybercrime for threat actors, business email compromise (BEC), made $2.8bn.

Investment scams are frequently linked to romance baiting (aka pig butchering), where victims are approached online – often on dating sites – and groomed by fraudsters before being tricked into investing in fake schemes.