Scam Reporters
Sergeant Major
- Messages
- 650
This very short thread is sort of an 'hommage' to the efforts to bring down vast cyber crime group of one Gal Barak, an Israeli scammer, whose fraud network was a part of gigantic Gery Shalone 'empire'. Besides being friends, they both share another common thing - they are now both in jail. There will be many more findings and details in the years to come. For a start, to find the stolen money.
Gal Barak came to Bulgaria at the time when Israeli binary options industry was kicked out from its homeland, Israel. No, we are not antisemitic. Israelis labeled the scam industry them selves, publicly: The wolves of Tel Aviv, March 2016 by Ms Simona Weinglass. Barak did not just happen to arrive to Bulgaria. No, Bulgaria was already their promised land, lots of his predecessors were developing Forex scam call centers as business. Soon he became well connected, opened a big call center called E&G Finance EOOD (later renamed to E&G Bulgaria). Then expanded to the Balkan region quickly - Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, later came Georgia etc. While other countries had independent companies (at least nominally), in Serbia he apparently made a huge mistake - after some local quarrels with 'partners', he opened a fully-owned subsidiary of Bulgarian E&G. Things eventually got bad for him and he was caught by the police.
Boiler rooms that were identified, 2017-2019:
1. Capital Markets Solutions doo, Sarajevo, Bosnia - handled Golden Markets and Safe Markets scams, from his 'scam portfolio'
2. Cactus Marketing doo, Belgrade, Serbia - handled OptionStars Global and Cryptopoint scams
3. My Markets doo, Belgrade, Serbia - Cryptopoint, 4XFX and XtraderFX scams
4. Silkline Group, Kosovo - more focused on Barak's partner's (now deceased) Uwe Lenhoff scams (like Aurum Invest, Vemarkets), together with his Albanian partner Betim Tasholi ('Bet90')
Today on September 1, 2020, Gal Barak was sentenced to 4 years in prison in Austria alone. Trial and penalty in Germany is still pending, so more will come (hopefully much more). Not just to him, but also to his associates, many of who are now being actively sought by the authorities. All the details of this case anyone can find in the extensive coverage by FinTelegram: link so there is no point in elaborating the subject.
This is a major blow to scam industry and a European turning point for sure. Now scammers know they can actually go to jail in the EU for this sort of illicit business. Restitution payments to victims should be the next logical step. It will not be easy for sure. But now there is hope, much more then a year ago or before. Victims of mentioned scams and others not mentioned, that belong to this scam network, should get involved and inquire about their money, or at least keep a close look on the subject. And one final note - beware of 'recovery scams', don't fall twice for the same sort of people. Double or triple check everything offered or presented!
Gal Barak came to Bulgaria at the time when Israeli binary options industry was kicked out from its homeland, Israel. No, we are not antisemitic. Israelis labeled the scam industry them selves, publicly: The wolves of Tel Aviv, March 2016 by Ms Simona Weinglass. Barak did not just happen to arrive to Bulgaria. No, Bulgaria was already their promised land, lots of his predecessors were developing Forex scam call centers as business. Soon he became well connected, opened a big call center called E&G Finance EOOD (later renamed to E&G Bulgaria). Then expanded to the Balkan region quickly - Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, later came Georgia etc. While other countries had independent companies (at least nominally), in Serbia he apparently made a huge mistake - after some local quarrels with 'partners', he opened a fully-owned subsidiary of Bulgarian E&G. Things eventually got bad for him and he was caught by the police.
Boiler rooms that were identified, 2017-2019:
1. Capital Markets Solutions doo, Sarajevo, Bosnia - handled Golden Markets and Safe Markets scams, from his 'scam portfolio'
2. Cactus Marketing doo, Belgrade, Serbia - handled OptionStars Global and Cryptopoint scams
3. My Markets doo, Belgrade, Serbia - Cryptopoint, 4XFX and XtraderFX scams
4. Silkline Group, Kosovo - more focused on Barak's partner's (now deceased) Uwe Lenhoff scams (like Aurum Invest, Vemarkets), together with his Albanian partner Betim Tasholi ('Bet90')
Today on September 1, 2020, Gal Barak was sentenced to 4 years in prison in Austria alone. Trial and penalty in Germany is still pending, so more will come (hopefully much more). Not just to him, but also to his associates, many of who are now being actively sought by the authorities. All the details of this case anyone can find in the extensive coverage by FinTelegram: link so there is no point in elaborating the subject.
This is a major blow to scam industry and a European turning point for sure. Now scammers know they can actually go to jail in the EU for this sort of illicit business. Restitution payments to victims should be the next logical step. It will not be easy for sure. But now there is hope, much more then a year ago or before. Victims of mentioned scams and others not mentioned, that belong to this scam network, should get involved and inquire about their money, or at least keep a close look on the subject. And one final note - beware of 'recovery scams', don't fall twice for the same sort of people. Double or triple check everything offered or presented!