A coordinated law enforcement operation between Germany and Romania has successfully dismantled a sophisticated fraud ring that exploited online seller accounts to carry out an extensive phishing scam, leading to more than €400,000 in damages and hundreds of defrauded customers.
Phishing Attack Targets Legitimate Online Sellers
The operation revealed that the scammers used phishing tactics to obtain login credentials from genuine sellers on a popular e-commerce platform. Once inside the accounts, the attackers quickly changed passwords and locked out the original sellers.
From there, the compromised accounts were repurposed to publish fraudulent ads for goods that never existed. Buyers, believing they were purchasing from verified sellers, paid for the fake products—only to receive nothing. Authorities confirmed that 556 customers were duped in total, suffering direct financial losses totaling over €400,000.
Joint Investigation Leads to Arrests in Three Countries
Following the scale of the Cyber fraud, Eurojust coordinated a joint investigation with German and Romanian law enforcement. A series of actions in December 2024 led to coordinated raids across Germany, Romania, and Austria. Seven suspects were arrested—four in Romania and three in Germany.
But even after the arrests, the Cyber fraud scheme didn’t stop.
Authorities discovered that three additional members of the group continued operating the scam by leveraging other hijacked accounts. Investigators, working with a European arrest warrant, quickly identified and detained these individuals on June 24th. Law enforcement also carried out eight more property searches and seized IT equipment containing further evidence.
Investigations into the broader network behind the fraud are still active.
Cyber Fraud via Compromised Accounts Continues to Rise
This incident is part of a growing trend of account takeover fraud affecting e-commerce platforms. Criminals are increasingly targeting seller credentials instead of creating fake stores from scratch, giving them a layer of legitimacy to bypass fraud detection systems.
Such scams not only result in financial losses for buyers but can damage the reputations of sellers whose accounts are compromised, and place additional strain on platforms trying to maintain trust.
