German Authorities Close 1,400 Websites Involved In Cyber Traffic Fraud

JAKARTA German investigative authorities and financial regulatory agency BaFin have closed more than 1,400 illegal domains in Eastern Europe involved in cyber trafficking fraud, according to a joint statement on Monday, October 13.

The operation, dubbed Operation Heracles, was carried out by the criminal police of the states of Baden-W\"urttemberg and BaFin, in collaboration with Europol and Bulgarian authorities, as an attempt to crack down on parties facilitating the use of fake trading accounts.

The site's users were directed to brokers operating from overseas call centers, who then persuaded them to invest large amounts of funds. Many victims just realized after months that their money had never actually been invested, authorities said.

"The perpetrators are getting more professional," said Birgit Rodolphe from BaFin. They use artificial intelligence to create mass illegal sites and trap investors to invest money.

The operation follows the closure of 800 illegal domains in June this year. Since then, there have been around 20 million attempts to access the sites that have been blocked.

"This action has significantly weakened criminals by specifically disabling their technical infrastructure," the authorities said in the statement.