EFRI’s Full Payvision Report: When Payment Infrastructure Becomes Fraud Infrastructure
Elfriede Sixt
16 May 2026
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European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI)
EFRI investigates the financial infrastructure behind cross-border online fraud and advocates for effective victim protection.
Featured Investigation: Our Payvision Report
Latest Financial Crime Research
Financial Crime Research
Bank Liability at the Gateway of Admissibility: The Amsterdam WAMCA Ruling in Stichting FGS v ING and bunq
Amsterdam Court Admits WAMCA Class Action Against ING/bunq Case note on Rechtbank Amsterdam, 15 July 2026, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2026:7864 (C/13/772051 / HA ZA 25-1256), published 10 August
Elfriede Sixt
11 August 2026
Financial Crime Research
Wise Was Denied a Bank Charter. Will DNB License Qivalis?
Wise Was Denied a Bank Charter. Will DNB License Qivalis? On 21 July 2026, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has rejected
Elfriede Sixt
29 July 2026
Financial Crime Research
StablR Cyber Incident: What Did the MFSA Supervise?
StablR admitted that EURR and USDR were no longer fully backed after unauthorised access to its platform. The incident raises fundamental questions about minting controls, redemption rights, Payvision-linked management and the MFSA’s supervision.
EFRI Redaktion
22 July 2026
Financial Crime Research
OpenPayd’s MiCA Licence: What Did Malta Check?
Days before the MiCA transition ended, Malta authorised an OpenPayd company to provide crypto services across Europe. The controlling owner and the warning signs were public. The MFSA’s assessment was not.
EFRI Research Team
22 July 2026
We Challenge Regulatory Failures
Regulatory affairs
AMLA’s Deterrence Gap: Weak Fines, Weak Impact
AMLA’s Deterrence Gap: Weak Fines, Weak Impact AMLA is presented as Europe’s answer to fragmented and ineffective anti-money laundering supervision. A Union-level AML supervisor is
Elfriede Sixt
10 August 2026
Regulatory affairs
AMLA May Miss the Next Københavns Andelskasse
AMLA’s direct-supervision criteria may miss smaller high-risk banks, EMIs, PSPs and acquirers that enable cross-border fraud despite not meeting size or six-Member-State thresholds
Elfriede Sixt
5 August 2026
Regulatory affairs
Warning: Fraudsters Are Circulating Fake EFRI Investigator IDs
EFRI has received a fabricated identification document naming a supposed financial crime investigator and falsely claiming that its holder has access to government registries. The document is fake and was not issued or authorised by EFRI.
Elfriede Sixt
4 August 2026
Regulatory affairs
BaFin Warns About Virtual IBANs — But the Problem Is Years Old
BaFin Warns About Virtual IBANs – But the Problem is Years Old On 27 July 2026, the German financial supervisor BaFin warned that virtual IBANs
Elfriede Sixt
30 July 2026
Collective Redress/Litigation
Are you a Victim of Xtraderfx, Optionstars, Safemarkets, Golden Markets?
31 October 2021
No Comments
At the end of January 2019, Gal Barak, the owner of several investment scam websites, including XtraderFX, OptionStars/OptionStarsGloball, Safemarkets, and Golden Markets, was arrested by
Are you a Victim of Option888, Xmarkets, Tradovest, Zoomtrader?
31 October 2021
No Comments
Uwe Lenhoff, a German national, was arrested on 25 January 2019 in Tyrol, Austria, and faced multiple charges related to fraud. He was identified as
European Funds Recovery Initiative
About EFRI - European Funds Recovery Initiative
EFRI identifies and targets financial crime enablers and seeks restitution on behalf of its members from the fraudsters and the enablers of the scams.
The legal entity behind this initiative is a non-profit organization registered in Vienna, Austria (EFRI Association).
You can read the charter of the non-profit association here.
Since March 31, 2025 EFRI is a qualified entity according to the §1 of the Austrian QEG and empowered to bring cross border collective redress actions. Pls read more here:
We strongly believe that a large group of victims fighting against the fraudsters and asking for help from the authorities in a structured way can help to stop this type of fraud in Europe.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to strengthen the rights of victims of cross-border online fraud. We conduct evidence-based research into the financial infrastructure and professional services used by fraud schemes, challenge regulatory and enforcement failures, and advocate for effective prevention, asset recovery and redress. Where the evidence and legal framework support it, we coordinate collective action and litigation to seek accountability and compensation for affected consumers across Europe.
With increasing digitalisation, the extent of cybercrime is also increasing massively. The activities of many initiatives to increase cybersecurity focus primarily on the technical and organisational aspects of companies. EFRI, on the other hand, concentrates on protecting consumers from online fraudsters through technical, organisational, communicative and legal measures.
We think that the protection of Consumers and Small Investors is a must for the development of a sustainable cyber society.
The activities of EFRI focus on the following areas:
Supporting victims of cybercrime to overcome the psychological effects of the crime and to prevent them from being victimised again;
Identifying financial crime enablers supporting the scams and addressing them for refunds on behalf of the victims;
Coordination and contact point for authorities, non-government organisations and private initiatives for data exchange and warnings regarding scams and investment fraud;
Public early warning system against scammers and investment fraud in cooperation with media partners and operators of social media;
Development of a cybercrime database for statistical analysis.
