As the EU evaluates its “Fighting Online Fraud – Action Plan,“ a new emerging operating model is taking center stage: FRAML (the integration of Fraud and Anti-Money Laundering systems) to fight fraud real-time and more efficiently. At EFRI, we view FRAML as a double-edged sword. While it is a significant
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bamberg has indicted Yehezkely Isaac, who was part of the management structure of Gal Barak’s call-centre operation between December 2016 and February 2019. Barak’s investment fraud schemes are alleged to have defrauded tens of thousands of European victims of approximately €200 million between September 2015
Disclaimer: We have just started to dig into this topic, so this article is for public‑interest information and advocacy discussion. It summarises complex issues and may become outdated as cases and enforcement evolve. Why this matters: scam ads are not “just content” When a scam appears in a social feed
The European Union is expanding its regulatory arsenal against online fraud, tightening rules for payment providers through the new Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and Payment Services Directive (PSD3), and demanding greater accountability from online platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Yet Europe is fighting this battle in the dark:
Stablecoins, on-chain crypto-assets pegged to the value of fiat currencies such as the US dollar and Euro (USDT and USDC), are currently used predominantly as the “cash leg” of the crypto ecosystem: they serve as a settlement and liquidity instrument for trading and as a bridge between fiat and crypto
We have reviewed excerpts from the criminal case files concerning B2G GmbH. These records show that although BaFin had been aware of the laundering activities of Oleg Shvartsman and Rainer Treuer since November 2017, no SARs were filed with the FIU and/or law enforcement, and payment rails remained open until
Scam advertising on Meta’s platforms is no longer “just” a consumer harm story; it is increasingly a litigation story in the United States. In late 2025, Reuters published a series of investigations describing how Meta internally tracked “high-risk” scam ads, assessed legal exposure, and debated advertiser verification approaches under regulatory
The European Union has reached a political agreement on its long-awaited Retail Investment Strategy (RIS), a reform package aimed at encouraging retail participation in capital markets and improving consumer protection. Yet, the final compromise reveals a familiar pattern: the European financial lobby has once again succeeded in neutralising the most
Scam advertising on Facebook and Instagram is not a niche problem—it’s a systemic consumer-protection risk, with cross-border impacts and real financial harm. Recently, Reuters published a series of investigations alleging that fraud and prohibited ads remain widespread on Meta’s platforms, supported by internal documents and on-platform tests. For consumer organisations
On 5 December 2025, the European Commission imposed a €120 million fine on X (formerly Twitter) for breaches of transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), citing deceptive design related to “verified” blue checkmarks, deficiencies in the advertising repository, and failures regarding researchers’ access to public data. For victims
