Overview

• Authorities executed 12 searches on Wednesday across Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate and Lower Saxony.
• No arrests were made, but investigators seized laptops, mobile phones and hard drives for forensic analysis.
• Targets are suspected of obtaining forged documents, stolen or exfiltrated data and fraud-enabling services such as classifieds scams and online-banking fraud.
• Multiple prosecutor offices coordinated the action, including Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, Itzehoe, Cologne, Magdeburg, Mainz and Osnabrück.
• Operators of the platforms are the subject of a separate probe and are partly identified, with evidence evaluation and cryptocurrency-tracing work continuing.