Major raid across Europe: cell phone fraud uncovered in Krefeld

During the major Europe-wide raid on suspected fraudulent cell phone offers, customs and tax investigators confiscated 10 to 15,000 devices in Krefeld alone, according to estimates by a reporter from the German Press Agency. The officers scanned the cell phones device by device in a warehouse in a Krefeld industrial area with several work streets in order to record the serial numbers. A shipping container was set up in front of the hall so that the cell phones could be transported away later.

Suspects were no longer on site, it was said. According to the European Public Prosecutor's Office, seven suspects had already been arrested on Saturday - four of them in Germany, two in Austria and one person in Spain. These include the two alleged leaders of the organization.

According to dpa information, the hall in Krefeld was shadowed by emergency services since then until the investigators struck on Tuesday. The reason for the arrests on Saturday were findings from telephone surveillance of the suspects: According to this, two people involved wanted to go on a long business trip abroad. The forces got ahead of this.

The Europe-wide raid with around 160 searches in 19 countries involves cell phones made from used parts that are said to have been sold as new goods over the Internet. The EuStA estimates the damage to be at least 300 million euros, as it announced in Luxembourg. This means that at least one million cell phones have been sold.