The Bulgarian authorities recently conducted a major raid against an organized criminal group, which was involved in financial frauds using binary options and other risky instruments. The group is believed to have duped around 30 million euros from investors.
According to an official announcement by the Bulgarian Attorney General on Thursday, the country’s prosecutor’s office teamed up with the local organized crime-busting unit to conduct raids on May 11.
The authorities searched 21 premises, including call centers, company offices and houses in raids across three Bulgarian cities: Sofia, Mezdra and Varna.
The raids resulted in the seizure of 68 computer systems, 43 memory devices, 19 mobile phones, many valuable items, and several financial and other documents. Additionally, authorities detained five people, including two foreign nationals, in connection with the group. The leader of the group is an Israeli citizen who tried to flee Bulgaria but was nabbed.
In addition, the Bulgarian law enforcement found narcotic substances in possession of the detained group members.
Ran Fraudulent Operations across Many Countries
The group was conducting its activities across many countries, mostly in Europe. Authorities of seven countries, Germany, Northern Macedonia, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Israel, and Bulgaria, under the leadership of Eurojust were investigating the fraudsters.
The investigations carried out by the German authorities played a key role in busting the perpetrators as they conducted investigative works against the criminal group in the Bulgarian territory. All the collected evidence will be handed over to the German authorities.
Authorities across the world are getting strict with the binary options operators due to the number of criminal activities using the risky instrument. Earlier, the US financial market regulator indicted Spot Option and its Israeli operators, Pini Peter and Ran Amiran, for duping thousands of Americans.
Meanwhile, Australia imposed a permanent ban on the offerings of binary options.
