Simone Weinglass and BBC did a great job in identifying the issues of the law enforcement in Europe!
The Milton Group is a transnational cybercriminal organization!
In the autumn of 2022, it was revealed that European authorities had successfully dealt a significant blow to the “Milton Group” after years of investigations. The Milton Group, a vast criminal network, is believed to have defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide through fraudulent investment schemes. Operating since 2017, the group ran notorious trading scams such as EverFX and BProFX. According to a joint press release from the Bavarian and Saxon public prosecutors, the damages exceeded €100 million in Germany alone, with worldwide losses reaching billions.
On November 8, simultaneous raids on boiler rooms were conducted across Georgia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Authorities seized extensive evidence, including over 500 computers, mobile phones, electronic devices, and numerous documents. Five suspects were arrested. The operation also resulted in asset seizures totaling tens of millions of euros, including accounts, cash, Bitcoin wallets, and other valuables.
In cooperation with a former Milton group employee turned whistleblower, a BBC team around Simone Weinglass followed the group’s roots to identify the group’s beneficial owners. The interviews were done and recorded in a great video (available via Internet Archive), describing the challenging professionalism applied by the scammers and also revealing the issues of the European law enforcement initiatives.
Law enforcment in Europe has to change its approach!
Nino Goldbeck, Chief Prosecutor at Cybercrime Bamberg, highlighted that German efforts have reportedly reduced the number of German victims—though this claim remains unverified. He also emphasized that Germany cannot take responsibility for other European countries, stating, “We cannot save the world.” Unfortunately, this attitude seems to reflect the general approach of many authorities across Europe.
While Europe strives for a unified market in financial and business services—eliminating borders and facilitating initiatives like the planned “Instant Payments,” which will allow European citizens to transfer money crossborder within minutes—law enforcement lags far behind. Simple information requests from Bulgarian or Cyprus authorities still take months or even years, highlighting a stark disconnect between financial integration and cross-border crime enforcement
Germany is taking the lead in conducting boiler room raids, significantly disrupting operations in Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries. As a result, scammers are relocating their boiler rooms to countries beyond the reach of European authorities—likely continuing their schemes as successfully as before. Clearly, this approach alone will not address the ongoing surge in online fraud across Europe.
As Simone Weinglass reports, none of the beneficial owners of the Milton Group have been charged so far. By the time of the BBC’s investigation (referenced below), the Milton Group had already returned to operating at nearly the same capacity as before the raids.
Transnational criminal organizations like the Milton Group operate without regard for regional borders or jurisdictions. They act globally, and only coordinated transnational law enforcement initiatives can effectively combat these sophisticated cybercriminal networks
