The German police forces has reached out to the Israel Police's Central Fraud Unit to help investigate a multi-media fraud scheme targeting German citizens that they believe is being operated by Israel.
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The suspects are believed to have set up call centers in Israel, Germany, and other countries, including Georgia, through which German citizens were contacted and persuaded to invest hefty sums in stocks, foreign currencies, and goods. Eventually, the investors discovered that their money had vanished without any deals being concluded.
The fraud made use of fake investment websites and is assessed at tens of millions of euros, with investigators suspecting that it remained in operation for several years.
A raid of the company's offices in Petah Tikva, where the scheme was active and targeted Israelis, resulted in police seizing computers, cellphones, documents, and cash. Prior to the raid, 4 million shekels ($1.24 million) in various bank accounts linked to the case had been frozen.
On Wednesday morning, the investigation was made public. Detectives from the unit arrests 15 Israeli suspects and brought them in for questioning. Of the 15, 11 were released after questioning, while the remaining four were detained and due to appear at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court for a remand hearing.
The current expectation is that Germany will ask Israel to extradite the four suspects to stand trial there. The police plan to ask for a 20-day remand, in part to allow time to arrange the extradition process.
The four suspects are residents of Hoon, Tel Aviv, Tzur Yigal and Givatayim. According to the authorities in Germany, they are members of a criminal organization headed by Israelis, although the organization's two heads – an Israeli father and son – are abroad and have yet to be arrested.
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