Operation Chargeback: 4.3 million cardholders affected, EUR 300 million in damages 

On 4 November 2025, an international coordinated action day targeted three major fraud and money laundering networks as part of Operation “Chargeback.” Led by the Cybercrime Department (Landeszentralstelle Cybercrime) of the General Prosecutor’s Office (Generalstaatsanwaltschaft) in Koblenz, Germany, and the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), the operation has been investigating these networks since December 2020. More than 60 house searches were conducted and a total of 18 arrest warrants executed. The criminal networks are suspected of misusing credit card data from over 4.3 million cardholders across 193 countries. In total, the estimated damage from the fraud scheme exceeds EUR 300 million, with attempted damages amounting to over EUR 750 million. Read More