€250 Is the Hook: The FTD in Online Investment Fraud Court records, regulators and fraud operators’ own scripts show that the FTD (first-time deposit) is the designed entry point of investment fraud, not a small loss The victim sees a test. The operators see the start of a relationship Every
German Court Holds Meta Liable for Scam Ads – But What About the Victims? A German court has taken an important step in defining the responsibility of social-media platforms for fraudulent advertising. On 16 September 2026, the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main held Meta liable for fake advertisements and
Seven Years of Work, 63 Victims, €1.48 Million in P2P Refunds Approved After years of victim identification, payment reconstruction and persistent follow-up, the P2P GmbH case is finally producing a concrete result for victims. The Cologne Regional Court has approved refunds totalling €1,479,152.91 for 63 victims coordinated through EFRI. The
ING has a Payvision Accounting Problem Contradictory figures, missing audit evidence and unresolved victim claims demand documented answers. ING announced Payvision’s phase-out in 2021, citing commercial reasons, and reported its operational completion in 2022. Years later, the Payvision companies’ latest accounts – just filed with KvK – contain material contradictions
The “Just the Rails” Defence: What the Zelle Fraud Case Means for Wero and Europe On 20 July 2026, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County refused to dismiss the New York Attorney General’s fraud action against Early Warning Services, LLC (EWS), the operator of
EFRI asks German prosecutors: What happened to the “Wolf of Sofia” investigations? Today EFRI has formally asked the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Bamberg and its Central Cybercrime Unit (ZCB) for clarification on the status of the German criminal proceedings concerning Gal Barak, Marina Barak and Gery Shalon. The request comes against the background
FINOM/Banking Circle/Triventa: a €314k pass-through at a DNB-licensed EMI A fact-based EFRI Case Note built on the FINOM account statement, Companies House filings, Banking Circle’s Article 15 GDPR response, the DNB register and public-register publications, a Sumsub onboarding report, correspondence, a Kifid decision and published Dutch judgments. It makes no
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 necessary. But a supervisor’s effectiveness does not depend only on its mandate. It depends on consequences. Recent criticism of the EU’s AML reform increasingly questions
US and EU Asset Recovery is Failing Fraud Victims Authorities routinely celebrate their successes in tracing, freezing and confiscating criminal assets. Yet the crucial final step — returning those assets to the victims — remains fragmented, discretionary and painfully slow. Current cryptocurrency forfeiture proceedings in the United States expose the
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.
