Officials in Germany have shut down more than 1,400 illegal domains in Eastern Europe linked to cybertrading fraud, marking a potential dent in the fast-growing international problem.
Dubbed Operation Heracles, the probe was led by Germany’s financial watchdog BaFin, alongside law enforcement agencies in Germany and Bulgaria. Users visiting the fraudulent websites were directed to brokers operating from overseas call centers, where they were subjected to high-pressure tactics encouraging them to invest large sums. Authorities said many investors only realized months later that their money had never been placed in legitimate accounts.
The criminals behind the fraudulent domains have not yet been identified, though the sites now redirect visitors to a seizure page. A similar operation last year took down around 800 illegal domains, yet authorities recorded 20 million subsequent attempted visits to those addresses—underscoring the scale and persistence of such scams.
Dangerous Websites
Fraud is growing rampant worldwide. In the U.S., social media remains the primary avenue for investment scams, while fake websites rank as the second-most common channel, with 6,007 fraud reports and $266 million lost, according to a report from BrokerChooser. Investment scams are the fifth most common type of fraud in the U.S., with 66,703 reports recorded in the first half of 2025. Overall, Americans lost $3.5 billion to investment scams during that period.
Artificial intelligence has enabled criminals to create realistic, sophisticated platforms in minutes, tricking victims into depositing funds that are then stolen. According to Authority Hacker, scams involving artificial intelligence cost Americans more than $108 million, with an average loss of $14,600 per victim.
The Invesco Scam
Similar scams have been uncovered in Europe. Bafin recently reported that criminals posing as Invesco employees were contacting individuals by phone and email, offering the chance to open trading accounts that appeared to be linked to Invesco’s German branch. It is unclear whether these criminals were connected to the domains that were shut down this week.
“The impression is given that the trading accounts offered are connected to the Invesco branch in Germany, which is supervised by BaFin,” a regulator told the website Finance Magnates. “This is not the case. This is a case of identity theft. No Invesco employee would call consumers unsolicited or try to persuade them to invest in Invesco products via email or WhatsApp.”
