10,000 phone numbers used by cybercriminals blocked in Germany

German investigators have shut down nearly 10,000 phone numbers linked to cybercriminals over the past three months as part of a crackdown on international cyber investment fraud, authorities said in a statement on Friday, reported dpa.

The operation, involving German police and prosecutors as well as financial and telecom regulators in Germany and Austria, is part of a wider anti-fraud campaign. Since it began, 13,888 phone numbers have been deactivated: 13,397 in Germany and 491 in Austria.

Authorities said the fraud scheme, known as cybertrading fraud, involves persuading victims to invest large sums of money through fraudulent online platforms promising high returns.

Call-centre operators posing as brokers then pressure victims to invest more. The scams can appear legitimate for months, but the money is generally lost, authorities said.

The unidentified perpetrators operate internationally and have been described by authorities as using a "crime-as-a-service" model. The money deposited by victims is never actually invested, they said.

Telecom companies have been ordered to deactivate fraudulent numbers, tighten registration procedures and strengthen checks on sales partners and retailers.

They were also required to strengthen compliance checks on their sales partners and dealers and subject them to more thorough scrutiny to prevent further abuse.

Separately, the European police agency Europol, law enforcement agencies in other countries and cybercrime specialists from the German state of Baden-Württemberg have also taken down more than 2,000 illegal domains in recent months.

The perpetrators had used these to deceive consumers and lure them into supposed investments on manipulated trading platforms.