On 25 September 2026, German authorities announced another stage of Operation Heracles, a coordinated campaign against international cyber investment fraud. During the previous three months, investigators identified and disabled 9,304 German telephone numbers believed to have been used for fraud, particularly cybertrading fraud. Since the operation began, 13,888 telephone numbers have been disabled, including 13,397 German and 491 Austrian numbers.
The action brings together financial supervision, criminal enforcement and telecommunications regulation. The Cybercrime Centre at the Karlsruhe Public Prosecutor General's Office and the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office worked with the Federal Criminal Police Office, BaFin and the Federal Network Agency, as well as Austrian authorities. BaFin contributed information used to identify suspicious numbers, while the Federal Network Agency took supervisory measures against telecommunications companies.
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Operation Heracles Moves Beyond the Fraudulent Website
The numbers alone make Operation Heracles significant, but its structure is perhaps more interesting for the FX and CFD industry.
Online investment fraud increasingly resembles a complete financial services business from the outside. Victims can encounter advertising, professional-looking trading websites, account dashboards, supposed brokers and customer support. According to German authorities, cybertrading fraud has developed into a mass phenomenon operating on an industrial scale, with rising case numbers and losses.
| Latest Operation Herakles | |
| Metric | Latest Data |
| German numbers disabled in latest three-month campaign | 9,304 |
| Total numbers disabled since Operation Heracles began | 13,888 |
| German numbers in cumulative total | 13,397 |
| Austrian numbers in cumulative total | 491 |
| German share of cumulative total | 96.5% |
| Austrian share | 3.5% |
This means shutting down a fraudulent website may no longer be enough. Domains can be replaced. New websites can be generated quickly, and clients can be redirected to another address. BaFin has previously warned that criminals are using artificial intelligence to produce illegal investment websites at scale.
Operation Heracles therefore appears to be moving further into the infrastructure supporting these networks. The latest action did not primarily focus on websites. It targeted fixed-line, mobile and VoIP telephone numbers used by suspected fraudsters. Authorities said the numbers can form part of a broader "Crime-as-a-Service" infrastructure rented to international criminal networks. The suspected use extends beyond investment fraud to other forms of organised fraud.
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The Federal Network Agency's involvement is particularly important. Telecommunications companies were required not only to disable numbers but also to adjust registration procedures and strengthen compliance controls covering their sales partners and dealers. Authorities also said they had established structures that should allow large numbers of criminally used telephone numbers to be systematically identified and disabled in the future.
Find the full analysis, including a detailed breakdown of the "Operation Herakles", in our latest report from Finance Magnates Intelligence.
