Europol arrests Israeli-French gang behind €38m CEO fraud
The men committed the crimes through a pre-existing money laundering scheme that involved multiple bank accounts in EU countries, China and Israel.
This was stated in a statement issued by Europol.
A Franco-Israeli criminal network involved in large-scale CEO fraud has been dismantled as a result of a joint investigation in cooperation with Europol, according to the statement.
The group targeted various companies in France and sent fake messages from their owners asking their accountants to transfer funds to various accounts. The total value of this fraud is 38 million euros.
The French-led operation involved the Croatian National Police, the Croatian Anti-Money Laundering Office, the French National Police, the French Gendarme Police and the Hungarian Army.
During this 5-day operation, Budapest Metropolitan Police, Israel Police, Portuguese Judicial Police and Spanish National Police investigated these incidents in France and Israel between January 2022 and January 2023 through operational activities.
According to the European Union Police Agency, during this operation, in addition to the arrest of the head of this criminal group from Israel, 8 people were arrested by raiding 8 houses.
Meanwhile, apart from electronic equipment and vehicles, 3 million euros from a bank in Portugal, 1.1 million from a bank in Hungary, 6 lakh from a bank in Croatia, 4 lakh from a bank in Spain and three and a half lakh euros in virtual currency were seized. were taken
This group consisting of 2 Israelis and 6 French nationals who were arrested used to transfer these funds to the accounts of different countries and withdraw them.
According to Europol, 5.5 million euros have been recovered so far as a result of these raids.