Cyber Trading Fraud

Investment fraudsters are up to mischief on the Internet

The police warn against investment fraudsters. There are more and more reports of "cyber trading fraud". The fraudsters are quite sophisticated in their approach: They lure potential investors on the internet with supposedly lucrative investment deals and trick them into paying money.

The financial losses suffered by the victims are sometimes immense. People want to keep their money "safe" or "invest" it well and look around the Internet world. This is how they find various advertisements. 

Offenders are quite inventive
The perpetrators come up with all sorts of ideas to trick the gullible investors. The websites, trading portals or trading platforms used are very elaborately designed. Promotional videos are also produced with well-known personalities advertising an investment platform on which they themselves would have made a small fortune. By using Austrian, German or British telephone numbers, the psychologically well-trained perpetrators want to simulate supposed respectability.

The aim of the perpetrators is to obtain money from potential investors. This is mainly done via the internet, but sometimes also by telephone, and involves investing money in funds, shares, gold, bitcoins, options, currencies and other products. These are generally high-risk financial instruments that are only suitable for experienced investors. 

Tips from the Federal Criminal Police Office

• Observe investor warnings issued by the Financial Market Authority in Austria at www.fma.gv.at and other countries where applicable.
• Extreme caution is required if there is a prospect of high profits/returns in a very short time.
• Under no circumstances should you allow the alleged brokers to access your computer or cell phone remotely.
• The alleged company headquarters often do not match the recipient country (account). This is an urgent warning signal!
• If platforms do not have an imprint, this is a strong indication of a fraudulent platform.
• If you have been the victim of investment fraud, you can file a complaint with your local police department at any time.

It is also striking that the perpetrators repeatedly gain access to the victims' computers and cell phones via remote maintenance tools and then use this access to carry out transfers, account registrations with cryptocurrency trading exchanges and similar transactions in the victims' names. Virtual trades are used to suggest to the victims that the alleged investment is increasing or that profits are being made, although this is not the case. In some cases, individual payouts are also made to boost confidence.