Bulgarian authorities take down a network of online investment fraudsters

The Specialised Prosecutor's Office has initiated pre-trial proceedings to investigate an international organised crime group set up to commit financial fraud, the investigation said on January 27. Under the leadership of the specialised prosecutor’s office, an international joint investigation team has been set up between Germany, Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria.

On January 26, 2022, joint investigation was carried out on the territory of the four countries, code-named "Sarafi".

In Bulgaria, the team included 12 investigators from the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, employees of the General Directorate of the National Police at the Ministry of Interior, the District Directorate of the Ministry of Interior-Bourgas, the State Agency for National Security and representatives of Europol.

Searches and seizures were carried out in the city of Sofia and the city of Bourgas in the offices of companies providing accounting services and call centres. Numerous accounting documents, stamps, mobile phones, computer configurations and electronic devices were seized. More than 60 people are being interviewed as witnesses.

The activity of the crime group consisted in motivating citizens of the European Union to transfer money to various companies, misleading them that their money will be used to trade in financial instruments (forex, stocks, binary options, cryptocurrencies, etc), from which they will benefit. In reality, the victims' money is not used to trade in financial instruments. The members of the crime group then carried out a number of financial transactions with the money obtained through fraud, in order to conceal their origin and subsequent benefits. The group has used numerous internet platforms to trade financial instruments, including GlobalMarkets.

The damages inflicted on the victims amount to more than 2 million euros. Investigations are ongoing.

The Specialised Prosecutor's Office reminds that on the website of the Financial Supervision Commission, in the section "Registers and References", subsection "Electronic Register and File", you can check whether a company is a licensed investment intermediary.