(Wiesbaden) German police have arrested nearly 20 people in several countries, including Singapore, in a joint international operation targeting suspected fraud and money laundering networks, with the amount involved exceeding €300 million (approximately S$450 million).
The German Federal Criminal Police Office said on Tuesday (November 4) that authorities arrested 18 people in Operation Chargeback, conducted in Germany, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United States, and Cyprus.
Prosecutors will focus their investigation on 44 suspects in Germany and other countries, including members of fraud rings, employees of payment companies, and providers selling cybercrime tools or technologies.
German police and prosecutors said that between 2016 and 2021, the suspects used credit card information from 4.3 million people in 193 countries to commit fraud, resulting in losses of up to €300 million.
These suspects transferred funds through subscriptions to fake websites offering streaming media, dating, and entertainment. German police say further evidence shows that the defendant hacked into the systems of four major German payment service providers to process payment transactions, resulting in losses of hundreds of millions of euros.
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