The specialized prosecutor's office is initiating pre-trial proceedings to investigate an international organized criminal group set up to commit financial fraud, the investigation said. Under the prosecution's leadership, an international joint investigation team has been set up between Germany, Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria.

On January 26, 2022, joint actions were carried out to investigate the territory of the four countries, code-named “Sarafi”.

In Bulgaria, there are 12 investigators from the Investigation Department of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, employees of the General Directorate of the National Police at the Ministry of Interior, the OD of the Ministry of Interior-Burgas, the State Agency for National Security and representatives of Europol.

Bulgarian authorities take down online investment scam responsible for losses of more than EUR 10 million

In our country searches and seizures were carried out in the city of Sofia and the city of Burgas of companies providing accounting services and of call centers. Numerous accounting documents, stamps, mobile phones, computer configurations and electronic devices were seized. More than 60 people are being questioned as witnesses.

The activity of the criminal group consists 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 criminal organization then carry out a number of financial transactions with the money obtained through fraud, in order to conceal their origin and subsequent benefits. The criminal group has used numerous Internet platforms to trade financial instruments, including GlobalMarkets.

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

The Specialized 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.

/BNT

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