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   Over 1,400 websites taken offline in German police's 'Operation Heracles'   
      
   Date:   
   Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:46:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   The sites were scamming people out of their money by engaging them in fake   
   investments.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   The police recently took down more than 1,400 websites that were scamming   
   people out of their money. This is according to the Karlsruhe (Germany)    
   Public Prosecutors Office, who announced Operation Heracles in a press   
   release.    
      
   Operation Heracles was a joint effort conducted by German, Bulgarian, and   
   Europol law enforcement agents. The sites were part of a wide network of   
   financial and investment scams that were being advertised via social    
   channels.    
      
   Victims were invited to register accounts on these websites and invest -   
   mostly in cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency scams are reaching all time highs    
   , as the deregulated environment is ripe for threat actors - so it's    
   important to be careful.   
      
   Fake news    
      
   They were then shown their balance, and tricked into believing they were   
   generating significant returns. They were also allowed to withdraw small   
   amounts of money - a trick to have them believe the sites were legitimate,    
   and to get them to deposit even more. When victims tried to withdraw most (or   
   all) of their funds, they would first be told that they needed to deposit    
   even more money, to pay for different withdrawal fees or taxes.    
      
   If even then they didn't realize what was going on, and again tried to   
   withdraw their funds, the sites would go offline.    
      
   Birgit Rodolphe, BaFin Executive Director of Processing and Money Laundering   
   Prevention, said the scammers used artificial intelligence to create websites   
   like on an assembly line.    
      
   The scam was quite widespread and successful too, it seems. Since the sites   
   were taken down and defaced on October 3, there were more than 860,000 visit   
   attempts, showing just how popular these fake trading platforms were.    
      
   We dont know exactly how many people were scammed into investing, or how much   
   money was lost this way. Sadly, no one was arrested as part of this    
   operation, so its safe to assume that the miscreants will be back to their   
   usual activities sooner or later.    
      
   If youre looking to invest, make sure to double-check the platforms youre   
   using, and dont trust recommendations made on Telegram and other social   
   platforms without proper verifications.    
      
    Via Cybernews    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/over-1-400-websites-taken-offline-in-ge   
   rman-polices-operation-heracles   
      
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