About the European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI)
The European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) fights cybercrime and identifies financial crime enablers by publicly reporting about them. The EFRI then asks for refunds for victims from scammers and their enablers.
The story around EFRI started in 2017 when we filed a money laundering complaint against Uwe Lenhoff. Uwe Lenhoff, a German scammer who operated a vast criminal organization in cooperation with other big guys of the binary options industry (Gal BARAK, the by now infamous Wolf of Sofia, Ilan Troya (he acted as a whistleblower), Gary Shalon, and Vlad Smirnov). The criminal organization was busted in January 2019. The Austrian and German courts are filing charges against all of the UBOs of this criminal organization. We represent quite a few people on a European level in these trials. However, this criminal organization is not the only one we are addressing. We have realized that the scale of scams is increasing at an unbelievable pace, and everyone can be the target of these scrupulous organizations. We also learned that European law enforcement lacks the corresponding means to address this threat to European civil society.
We strongly believe that a large group of victims fighting scammers, identifying financial crime enablers, and asking the authorities for help in a structured way can make a difference and help stop this kind of fraud in Europe.
If you want to know more about our history and fight, please read these interviews (Part I) and (Part II).
The Austrian non-profit organization “Initiative for Fighting Cybercrime in Europe – EFRI” (Initiative zur Bekämpfung von Cyberkriminalität an Konsumenten und Kleinanlegern in Europa – EFRI) was established in Vienna on May 25, 2020.
We are registered with the Austrian Vereinsregister (ZVR 1493630560) and we are approved by the Austrian authorities as a qualified entity according to § 1 (1) Austrian QEG and are registered in the EU registry for qualified entities.
EFRI is funded by a one-time membership fee of € 75,- .
If EFRI assists individual victims in out-of court refund claims and no legal action pursuant to Section 5 (3) Z 2 of the Austrian QEG is planned in relation to this claim, EFRI may charge a fee to cover expenses related to the individual case. This fee is capped at 10% of the compensation obtained through EFRI’s assistance.
When legal action is initiated pursuant to Section 5 (3) Z 2 of the Austrian QEG (Qualified Entities Act), EFRI may collaborate with litigation funders, specific arrangements will have be made accordingly. But these specific arrangements will always allow for the rules of Section 6 (3) of the Austrian QEG and assure that the victims´interests are preserved.
Each single victim will be notified and has to agree to the procedure. For joining class legal actions an extra admission fee may be charged in line with Section 9 (4) of the Austrian QEG.
Funding structure for 2024:
Of the total income, only 0.002% was accounted for by membership fees in 2024, with the rest coming from success fees. This is a drastic change compared to previous years, when membership fees accounted for 75% (2022: 83%) of income, with success fees from out-of-court settlements making up only a small share of income. For more info pls read our activity report for 2024.
Funding in future:
With effect from November 15, 2024, EFRI was granted donation privileges under § 4a (4) of the Income Tax Act 1988 by the Federal Ministry of Finance. This allows us to accept donations from companies (up to the legally permitted amount) that wish to support our activities.
In addition EFRI plans to apply for national and international grants.
IMPRESSUM
Initiative zur Bekämpfung von Cyberkriminalität an Konsumenten und Kleinanlegern in Europa
Email Address: [email protected]
Phone No: 00436644251363
Executive Board Members: Elfriede Sixt, Nigel Kimberley
Executive Advisory Board (EAB) consists of three to five people. At least three EAB members are fraud victims.
Members update on March 27, 2025: 1.685
Please note: “By agreeing to join a legal action pursuant to Section 5 (2), (3) of the Austrian QEG (Qualifizierte-Einrichtungen-Gesetz) initiated by EFRI, victims delegate their decision-making authority to EFRI’s boards. The boards will have the final say on all actions and decisions related to the legal proceedings.
Members whose actions harm the association will be expelled. Additionally, EFRI reserves the right to take all necessary recovery measures and may publish the names of such individuals in the interest of protecting other members.
The Articles of the Association (in english) of the not-for-profit organization are downloadable here.
