Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, the Karlsruhe Cybercrime Center, Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office and other German and Austrian agencies have disabled 9,304 German phone numbers used by suspected fraudsters over the past three months under Operation Herakles. The action brings the operation’s total to 13,888 disconnected numbers, comprising 13,397 German and 491 Austrian numbers. BaFin’s investigations into unauthorized cyber trading businesses helped identify many of the suspicious numbers. The Federal Network Agency also required the responsible telecommunications companies to deactivate numbers, improve registration processes and strengthen compliance checks on sales partners and dealers. The participating authorities have established procedures to systematically identify and disable large volumes of numbers used for criminal activity.
2026-09-25BaFin
Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority and partner agencies shut down 9,304 phone numbers linked to cyber investment fraud
Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority and partner agencies disabled 9,304 German phone numbers linked to suspected cyber investment fraud over the past three months. Operation Herakles has now shut down 13,888 German and Austrian numbers, while telecommunications companies have been directed to tighten registration and distributor compliance controls.