Option888, XMarkets, TradeInvest90, ZoomTrader and TradoVest are being investigated by German and Austrian police for investment fraud and money laundering, the German public television reported.

Most of these brokers are registered offshore and are or were associated with TradoLogic, a company founded in Israel and currently operating out of Bulgaria. According to the report, the customer lists for the five online trading websites contained the names of more than 200,000 Germans. In a single German city, Saarbrücken, more than 200 victims brought charges against these brokers. Allegedly, each victim lost more than EUR 40 000 (on average).

A joint German-Austrian team has carried out 35 raids in five countries and investigated 10 suspects in connection with the alleged crimes committed by Option888, XMarkets, TradeInvest90, ZoomTrader and TradoVest, the report said. So, it looks like this is one of the largest cross-border operations ever against online financial fraud.