18 Arrested in Crackdown on Credit Card Fraud Rings

Europe-wide law enforcement arrested 18 individuals as part of Operation Chargeback, a crackdown on three major credit card fraud and money laundering networks. The group is alleged to have defrauded more than 4.3 million cardholders in 193 countries, using around 19 million fake online subscriptions and keeping charges to about €50 per month to avoid detection.

The action, which involved 60 house searches on 4 November across Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, and the US, targeted both the networks and four German payment service providers used to launder proceeds. According to Europol, the investigators seized documents, laptops, mobile phones and cryptocurrency assets, alongside luxury vehicles.

The 18 arrested suspects are American, Austrian, Canadian, Danish, Dutch, German and Lithuanian nationals, with the total estimated attempted damages exceeding €750 million. The operation also saw the involvement of Eurojust and saw multiple shell companies, primarily registered in the UK and Cyprus, used to conceal activities.