Prosecutors in Cologne have filed an indictment relating to alleged illegal payment collection in support of large-scale online investment fraud. The case materials held by EFRI name Oleg Shvartsman and Rainer Treuer. Proceedings are ongoing, and all parties are presumed innocent.If your transfers were made to B2G GmbH or P2P
For victims of online investment fraud, the suffering does not end when the fake trading platform disappears. It often begins again — under a new name, with a new promise, and the same underlying lie: This sentence has deceived thousands of victims across Europe. It is the foundation of a
The rapid growth of the digital asset market has brought significant legal scrutiny, particularly regarding the civil liability of crypto trading platforms for customer losses. Central to this discussion is the platform’s duty of care – a legal obligation to protect its customers’ assets and provide a secure service. European
Phishing is not a “private misfortune.” It is a systemic failure of payment security, and German courts are—slowly—drawing the lines of responsibility. Below is a concise map of key judgments (2023–2025) you can cite when you push your bank for reimbursement under §§ 675u, 675v, 675w BGB (PSD2). At the
As digital assets and cryptocurrencies become more embedded in commercial activity, UK courts are shaping how they’re treated under the law. The legal landscape surrounding digital assets such as cryptocurrencies remains in rapid evolution in the United Kingdom. Recent court decisions in 2024 and 2025 have increasingly addressed critical issues,
The EBA’s May 2024 report confirms there is no legal definition of “virtual IBANs” (vIBANs) in EU law. What many PSPs sell as vIBANs are IBAN-formatted identifiers that route to a separate “master account”. This architecture creates reconciliation benefits for merchants, but also a long list of AML/CFT, prudential, and
The big announcement Last week, nine European banks—including ING, UniCredit, Danske Bank, SEB, KBC, CaixaBank, Raiffeisen Bank International, DekaBank, and Banca Sella—announced their intention to issue a euro-denominated stablecoin by 2026 jointly. Billed as a pan-European public–private initiative, this move is positioned as a strategic response to the increasing dominance
When Europe’s payment institutions (PIs) and electronic-money institutions (EMIs) still show structural AML/CFT weaknesses, it’s reckless to assume stablecoin issuers—often EMIs themselves—will perform better. Any bank offering operating, reserve or settlement accounts to a fiat-backed stablecoin issuer faces two rails (fiat + on-chain). Both must be managed to AML standards—or
Europe built fast, low-cost payment rails. Victims deceived into initiating payments are still left alone. Our paper, a contribution to the ongoing discussion, sets out a solution based on the experience we made during the past years: treat fraudulently induced payments as unauthorised, make reimbursement the default at the payer’s
Carter-Ruck, one of the UK’s most feared libel law firms, is facing disciplinary proceedings over its role in the £4 billion OneCoin scam. The Solicitors Regulation Authority alleges partner Claire Gill made an improper threat designed to silence criticism, raising serious questions about how elite law firms can become financial
