After years of investigations, a suspected leading operator of fake online shops and the suspected mastermind of an illegal trading platform has been caught. The 35-year-old man from the Recklinghausen district in North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have defrauded around 1,000 people of some considerable sums. He was arrested two days ago in Mallorca and is in custody pending extradition, said the Baden-Württemberg Cybercrime Center (CCZ).
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt spoke of a tough blow to international crime. Drugs, forged documents and stolen data, among other things, were offered via the criminal online platform. “The fight against crime in cyberspace is constantly increasing in importance,” emphasized the CSU politician. “The current arrest is proof of the effectiveness of our countermeasures and intensive European cooperation.”
Underground economy
According to the CCZ, the suspect has been living on the Spanish island for years under a false identity and is considered one of the suspected leading figures in the German-speaking so-called underground economy. These are criminal networks on the Darknet and the Internet that offer illegal goods and services.
He is also considered to be the operator of the illegal online trading platform ‘Crimenetwork’, which was set up shortly after it was shut down, as announced at the same time by the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) in Frankfurt and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden. The new version of the platform, which offered stolen data, drugs and forged documents, was switched off on the day of the arrest.
Its approximately 22,000 users processed their transactions using cryptocurrencies – sales in the millions are expected. Investigators found extensive user and transaction data and seized around 194,000 euros. There was no further information on this yet. According to the information, it is still unclear when the 35-year-old will be extradited to Germany.
Fraud with fake online shops that look deceptively real
The man is accused of having operated more than 40 deceptively realistic shops on the Internet between March 2023 and January 2025, it was said. The fraud victims had ordered products and transferred money, but never received any goods. The damage therefore amounts to at least 323,000 euros.
Investigators, especially from the Reutlingen and Offenburg police headquarters, made a significant contribution to identifying the suspect, it was said. The victims identified so far came from, among others, Offenburg, Reutlingen, Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. People from numerous districts in Baden-Württemberg and all other German federal states are also affected.
Bitcoin and data carrier secured
At the same time as the arrest, properties in Germany were searched in addition to the man’s apartment in Mallorca, including those of two suspected accomplices from Kaltenkirchen in Schleswig-Holstein and Unna in North Rhine-Westphalia. The investigators secured Bitcoin worth around 314,000 euros in the main suspect’s apartment in Mallorca. Data carriers were also confiscated.