Dutch police, working with international law-enforcement partners including Europol, have disrupted a sprawling investment-fraud operation alleged to have defrauded victims across multiple countries of more than €100 million every month.
The investigation has resulted in arrests in Poland, Cyprus, Belgium, and Greece, targeting a network that operated around twenty fraudulent call centers staffed by more than 700 people.
The primary suspect, a 46-year-old dual Israeli-Polish national, was arrested on May 26 at a Polish airport while traveling from Dubai to Poland.
The arrest was carried out at the request of Dutch authorities. He has since been extradited to the Netherlands, where an examining magistrate ordered 14 days of pre-trial detention.
Investigators believe the man held an indispensable technical and operational role within the organization.
Authorities have not publicly disclosed the precise technical infrastructure or platforms attributed to him, but have said his skills helped the group remain concealed and delayed efforts to dismantle the operation.
The suspected criminal enterprise had operated since at least 2021 and was structured like a multinational business.
A central headquarters allegedly directed offices in several countries, while individual teams focused on victims in particular markets.
Employees reportedly worked under aliases and relied on technical measures to obscure their actual identities and geographical locations.
Politie investigation said that, Dutch police said the suspect had a known history in the cyber domain, with publicly available information linking him to earlier prosecutions involving intrusions into prominent foreign government organizations.
The group’s core operation centered on impersonation of legitimate financial advisers and account managers. Victims were contacted online or by telephone and gradually persuaded to make what appeared to be small initial investments.
Europol Disrupt Global Investment Scam
Fraudulent trading dashboards then displayed immediate profits, creating confidence in the supposed investment opportunity.
In reality, police said no investments were made. The web platforms were designed to closely resemble genuine financial-trading services, while deposits often transferred as cryptocurrency were diverted to accounts controlled by the fraud network.
The fake advisers maintained regular contact with victims, sometimes for months, using social-engineering techniques to pressure them into transferring progressively larger sums.
Dutch authorities linked approximately 550 reports in the Netherlands to the organization, with losses among Dutch victims approaching €25 million.
Most reported victims lost more than €10,000. Belgian investigators have received roughly 200 related complaints, while authorities estimate the group could have victimized tens of thousands of people worldwide.
The enforcement action continued in July. On July 7, police arrested two Dutch nationals, aged 45 and 34, along with a 34-year-old Belgian national in Cyprus, where all three were living.
A 25-year-old suspect residing in Belgium was arrested the same day. On July 10, authorities arrested a 44-year-old Dutch national with no fixed address in Athens.
Belgian police also arrested five alleged call-center employees. Further arrests remain possible as investigators analyze seized devices, financial records, and digital evidence.
The Dutch police said the breakthrough came from correlating financial and technical traces, including IP-address data, with equipment seized during the investigation.
That analysis enabled investigators to map elements of the organization’s infrastructure, identify offices and connect suspects to its operational ecosystem.
The financial investigation is ongoing, with authorities examining whether criminal proceeds and other assets can be frozen or seized.
The case highlights how industrial-scale investment scams increasingly combine polished counterfeit platforms, cryptocurrency payment rails, identity obfuscation, and geographically distributed call-center operations to target victims at scale.
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