International authorities have dismantled three massive credit card fraud and money laundering networks, linked to losses exceeding €300 million ($344 million) and affecting over 4.3 million cardholders across 193 countries.
The November 4th joint action, dubbed “Operation Chargeback,” included investigators from Germany, the USA, Canada, Singapore, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. The operation was led by German prosecutors and the Federal Criminal Police Office, and coordinated by Eurojust and Europol.
Operation Chargeback targeted 44 suspects, including alleged network operators, payment service providers, intermediaries, and a risk manager, and resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals, including five executives from four major German payment service providers.
In Germany, authorities conducted 29 searches across eight states, with support from over 250 officers, seizing assets worth more than €35 million in Germany and Luxembourg, including luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, laptops, mobile phones, and other devices.
“The fraud was organised around three networks, which defrauded several million credit card users with 19 million accounts in 193 countries. The estimated value of the fraud is at least EUR 300 million. The total value of attempted fraud against card users amounts to over EUR 750 million. The arrested persons are German, British, Latvian, Dutch, Austrian, Danish, American and Canadian nationals,” Eurojust said today.
“The suspects allegedly exploited the infrastructure of four major German payment service providers to process and launder the illicit transactions. Six suspects, including executives and compliance officers, are accused of colluding with the fraud networks, enabling them to access the payment infrastructure in exchange for fees,” Europol added.
They are charged with using credit card data to create over 19 million fake online subscriptions on websites offering pornography, dating, and streaming services between 2016 and 2021. Credit card charges were kept low, at around €50 per month, with vague descriptions that made it harder for victims to identify unauthorized transactions.
The suspects also utilized numerous shell companies, primarily registered in the United Kingdom and Cyprus, through crime-as-a-service providers. The alleged fraudsters used these shell companies to facilitate fraudulent transactions and minimize the risk of detection and chargebacks.
“Operation Chargeback is a testament to the power of international cooperation in dismantling complex criminal networks,” said Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle. “By leveraging our analytical capabilities and facilitating cross-border coordination, we have been able to bring down the networks defrauding millions of credit card users worldwide.”
This week, European law enforcement also arrested nine suspected money launderers behind a cryptocurrency fraud network that stole over €600 million ($689 million) from victims worldwide.
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