Overview
- Police in Hamburg report a mid‑double‑digit number of cases and confirmed a July 19 raid, while Bavarian authorities say investigations led to arrests in Munich in early August.
- Sellers posing as language schools advertise on TikTok, move orders to WhatsApp, and deliver within days, with reported prices between €750 and €2,700 and offers of bulk discounts.
- Immigration offices struggle to verify documents consistently, as some tests allow online checks while others like the LiD certificate do not, and officials cite workload and limited capacity.
- The Interior Ministry urges early in‑person interviews for applicants, and police say they are sharing case information with immigration authorities to enable steps such as revoking naturalisations.
- CDU lawmakers call for retrospective reviews and passport revocations where fraud is proven, Green politicians warn against blanket suspicion and press for secure procedures, and FDP voices demand swift federal action and transparency.