Overview
- Prosecutors in Karlsruhe, the Baden-Württemberg state police and BaFin led the action with telecom providers, working with Austria’s Federal Criminal Police Office.
- Providers cut off more than 3,500 mostly German numbers, along with about 355 Austrian landlines, spanning landline, mobile and internet telephony.
- Investigators link the numbers to investment fraud schemes as well as the “grandchild” con and calls by impostors posing as police officers.
- General Prosecutor Jürgen Gremmelmaier said the shutdowns prevented thousands of potential fraud attempts by removing immediate contact channels.
- The move extends earlier Herakles seizures of roughly 2,200 illicit domains in June and October, which LKA chief Andreas Stenger says pushes criminals into costly reorganization and aims to make such services uneconomic in Germany.