Lured via the Internet

Investor fell into the trap: 50,000 euros gone!

Reaching for an apparent profit can end in a financial dilemma.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

High profit, no risk - financial fraudsters lure you in with this promise. The criminal business is currently flourishing. The perpetrators operate in the background in a widely ramified network. A Euro gang has cashed in big from a Burgenlander who was hoping for substantial returns. Advertisement!

The bait is laid out on the Internet. The investments are limited, but at the same time the returns are advertised many times over. A capital investor from the Oberpullendorf district was promised 200,000 euros in profits. The Burgenlander did not think too long and took a chance on the seemingly promising business.

Persuaded to invest
But what began on April 1 was a very nasty "joke". The lucrative source of income quickly turned out to be a bottomless pit. The man concerned received calls from alleged financial advisors who cleverly seduced him into investing.

"In the beginning, it all looked like a promising business that would generate huge profits. But then the deal took a dramatic turn," say insiders. In less than three weeks, the investor handed over a total of almost 50,000 euros to the fraudsters.

By the time the victim became suspicious, it was long too late. Following a complaint, the investigation is only just beginning.

Sophisticated fraudsters
The police are only too familiar with the tricks used by financial fraudsters. "Cyber trading fraud involves potential investors being tricked into paying money on the internet for supposedly lucrative investment transactions," says the Federal Criminal Police Office.

Advertisements as a trick
Victims are recruited via internet advertisements, social networks, calls from specially created call centers or in the course of mass emails. The perpetrator groups work together with an almost unmanageable number of front and bogus companies that are set up in a group-like structure.

"Tasks such as marketing, call center operations, software development and money laundering are carried out independently of each other under one management. The functions are divided up and the jobs are carried out independently," explains a high-ranking investigator.

Criminologists warn
"The platforms are very professionally designed and, at first glance, feign high profits in order to motivate victims to make further payments," they say. The money paid is not invested, but disappears into the criminal network.

A fact that, according to genuine financial advisors, should make you think: "Generally speaking, the higher the return on the financial market, the higher the risk!" And: For your own safety, you should refuse to pay a supposed financial expert who promises to get your lost money back!