Brussels: pan-European operation hits mobile phone fraud network

BRUSSELS, 29 September /ATSH-DPA/ — Police in 19 European countries carried out a sweeping operation on Tuesday against a suspected mobile phone fraud network, with estimated damages of around 300 million euros.

According to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the criminal organisation is suspected of selling more than 1 million used phones, advertised online as new devices.

Investigators carried out more than 160 raids, while seven people were arrested in Austria, Germany and Spain, including the two suspected ringleaders.

The investigation found that the phones were assembled in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates using second-hand components. The devices were cleaned, repackaged and first shipped to the Netherlands, before being moved to warehouses in Germany.

The phones were then sold on online marketplaces across the European Union as new products. The scheme is believed to have been running since 2018 and to have involved more than one million devices.

Investigators also suspect the group used shell companies in EU countries and Switzerland to dodge tax obligations. According to the EPPO, VAT losses for several European countries exceed 30 million euros, of which at least 25 million in Germany.

One of the operation’s main hubs was North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Between 10,000 and 15,000 mobile phones were found in a warehouse in Krefeld. Around 1,770 tax, customs and police investigators took part in the operation.

The raids took place in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Authorities seized a large quantity of physical and digital evidence, while a witness was also questioned in the United Kingdom.