- Operation Heracles dismantled 1,400+ scam sites luring victims into fake crypto investments
- Scammers used AI to mass-produce convincing websites and simulate profitable returns
- Despite takedowns, no arrests were made; over 860,000 visit attempts followed the shutdown
The police recently took down more than 1,400 websites that were scamming people out of their money. This is according to the Karlsruhe (Germany) Public Prosecutor’s Office, who announced ‘Operation Heracles’ in a press release.
Operation Heracles was a joint effort conducted by German, Bulgarian, and Europol law enforcement agents. The sites were part of a wide network of financial and investment scams that were being advertised via social channels.
Victims were invited to register accounts on these websites and “invest” – mostly in cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency scams are reaching all time highs, as the deregulated environment is ripe for threat actors – so it’s important to be careful.
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They were then shown their balance, and tricked into believing they were generating significant returns. They were also allowed to withdraw small amounts of money – a trick to have them believe the sites were legitimate, and to get them to deposit even more. When victims tried to withdraw most (or all) of their funds, they would first be told that they needed to deposit even more money, to pay for different withdrawal fees or taxes.
If even then they didn’t realize what was going on, and again tried to withdraw their funds, the sites would go offline.
Birgit Rodolphe, BaFin Executive Director of Processing and Money Laundering Prevention, said the scammers used artificial intelligence to create websites “like on an assembly line”.
The scam was quite widespread and successful too, it seems. Since the sites were taken down and defaced on October 3, there were more than 860,000 visit attempts, showing just how popular these fake trading platforms were.
We don’t know exactly how many people were scammed into “investing”, or how much money was lost this way. Sadly, no one was arrested as part of this operation, so it’s safe to assume that the miscreants will be back to their usual activities sooner or later.
If you’re looking to invest, make sure to double-check the platforms you’re using, and don’t trust recommendations made on Telegram and other social platforms without proper verifications.
Via Cybernews
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