Today, EFRI represents 876 mainly European victims who lost their life savings of more than EUR 45.9 million to boiler room scammers. Fraud victims transferred EUR 45.9 million to beneficial owners of fraudulent websites through various European banks/financial service providers.

Our updated Follow the Money evaluation (downloadable here) and our studies of the criminal files of GAL Barak show what EU member states’ banks and payment processors are enabling and supporting this kind of fraud.

The involved bank/financial service providers have not done proper customer due diligence. And for sure, they did not check for suspicious transactions as required by the EU Anti-money laundering rules.

The lousy performance of the different banks and payment processors shines a light on the quality of the anti-money laundering fight in the respective single European country.

Under the provisions of the 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directives, each member state is obliged to establish an appropriate structure to combat money laundering in the respective Member States.

Germany is probably the best example for our assertion that the massive usage of a country’s financial system for fraud above all reflects a poor compliance and supervision system of a specific country.

The failure of BAFIN and the German FIU to spot the big fraud and money laundering company Wirecard, although having received proofs and hints from media and Whistleblower for years, is evident.

Germany has become the country for scammers and fraudsters to launder their money. But above all, it proves that Germany certainly did not fulfil its obligation to establish an appropriate structure to combat money laundering as required by the EU-Directives. Gal BARAK’s shell companies also heavily use German bank accounts (mainly Deutsche Bank/Postbank) to intake and money the victims’ funds.

 

So for a start, we ask the EU-Commission to initiative infringement proceedings for not correctly implementing the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives for

• GERMANY (DEUTSCHE BANK/POSTBANK),
• NETHERLANDS (PAYVISION/ING – the Dutch payment processor of BARAK’s und LENHOFF’s scams),
• BULGARIA (home of the Gal BBARAK’scriminal organization).

Feel free to download our letters (English and German) and send them to your ccountry’sMEPs and ask them to push it as they must represent you in the European Parliament.