Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority published a joint press release with the Karlsruhe Public Prosecutor General's Office's Cybercrime Center and the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office saying Operation Herakles had again disrupted infrastructure used by suspected cybercriminals linked to fraudulent online platforms. By Dec. 5, the authorities had identified 3,562 mostly German fixed-line, mobile and VoIP numbers that were allegedly used to contact victims in Germany, and the responsible providers had shut them all down. A further 355 Austrian landline numbers identified during the investigation were also disconnected in cooperation with Austria's Federal Criminal Police Office. The release says the numbers were suspected of being rented as "crime-as-a-service" to international fraud networks and used not only for online investment fraud, or cybertrading fraud, but also for other scams including the grandparent scam and fake police officer calls. BaFin said its intelligence materially contributed to identifying the suspicious numbers. The authorities said the measures are intended to disrupt the groups' communication channels, raise their operating costs and make Germany less attractive for providers of illegally used telecommunications services. The action follows earlier Operation Herakles measures in June and October 2025 that took more than 2,200 domains offline. The Cybercrime Center and the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office said they will continue working with BaFin and take further measures against cybertrading fraud and other online fraud schemes.

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