The month of October has seen an unprecedented number of police raids, arrests and extradition proceedings against Israeli alleged investment fraudsters, suggesting that law enforcement bodies abroad are intensifying their crackdown on Israel’s still-flourishing investment fraud industry.
Since about 2005, Israel has been a major source of one type of internet fraud, namely, fraud involving fake online trading or investment websites. Israeli authorities have largely ignored the criminal activity, allowing it to blossom into a full-fledged industry employing thousands of people and allegedly stealing billions of dollars.
But over the past few weeks, a spate of 10 law enforcement actions carried out at the behest of either the German police or the FBI suggests that authorities are ratcheting up their pursuit of alleged investment fraudsters.
The raids have also been marked by a new focus on not only the boiler rooms putting the hard sell on potential victims and websites they represent, but the trading platforms that act as the engine behind the alleged frauds.
Related: In major shift, Germany begins targeting the platforms driving Israel’s investment frauds
A detailed look at the raids and who they are targeting provides a glimpse through the fog normally shrouding the vast interconnected web of…
