18 arrested for global credit card scheme and more

18 arrested for global credit card scheme

Five executives from four German payment service providers were among 18 suspects arrested in a coordinated takedown of a global credit card scheme involving fake online subscriptions to dating, pornography and streaming services. Millions of credit card users across 193 countries lost an estimated 300 million euros to the scheme.

Suspects allegedly used payment service companies to process and launder stolen funds. Among those arrested were compliance officers for those companies. The European Union’s cross-border investigations entity, Eurojust, coordinated the arrests.

According to Eurojust, perpetrators carried out the scheme between 2016 and 2021. During that time, they allegedly stole credit card data, set up fake accounts, authorized and concealed payments, and laundered ill-gotten gains. Eurojust reports that the perpetrators evaded detection by keeping monthly payments below 50 euros, using obscure descriptions for payments, and transferring payments to websites that couldn’t be indexed by search engines and required direct links for access. Suspects allegedly purchased shell companies via crime-as-a-service providers to conceal the scheme and distribute transactions.

When meat goes ‘rogue,’ this tool may help find it

Food fraud is on the rise, and it costs the global economy an estimated $40 billion a year. It can be difficult to detect as fraudulent products are designed to deceive and can be altered, tampered with, misrepresented or mislabeled at any point along the supply chain.

But researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland have a tool that they say can cut through layers of deception in fraudulent foods and identify offending ingredients. According to researchers, the MEAT-iCode system can “quickly and reliably” identify “rogue” ingredients particularly in processed foods containing meat.

The system works by combining proteomic testing — a technique for analyzing proteins — with a database to identify different meats in a single processed food sample. Researchers used MEAT-iCode on 19 store-bought food products and found that all the ingredients listed on the labels were in the products. However, they got vastly different results when they tested kebabs advertised to contain lamb. The first kebab was supposed to contain 14% lamb, but had none, and another kebab that was advertised to contain 60% lamb and 20% chicken, contained twice as much chicken as lamb.

Meta makes billions from scam ads

Facebook is the busiest social media platform in the world, with more than 3 billion monthly users in 2025. Internal documents from Facebook’s parent company, Meta, show how those 3 billion users see an estimated 15 billion scam advertisements every day. According to the documents, Meta projected in 2024 that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue — $16 billion — from advertising for scams and banned products.

Reuters published a review of these internal documents in November. These documents, created by Meta between 2021 and 2025, reveal how the technology behemoth failed to identify and stop numerous ads for fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos and banned medical products on all its social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.) According to Reuters’ review, users who click on scam ads will then see more of them because Meta’s system matches ads to users’ interests.

While the documents reveal the tech company’s hesitancy to curb anything that could complicate its business efforts, they also outline goals to reduce the number of scam ads on Facebook and awareness of how influential its products are in the “global fraud economy.” In May 2025, Meta’s safety team estimated that the company’s platforms were involved in one-third of all successful scams in the U.S.

Ex-founder and chair indicted for a scheme that triggered a billion-dollar bankruptcy

The former CEO and founder of investment firm, Beneficient, was arrested in November 2025 for a scheme that defrauded investors of $150 million and forced a company into bankruptcy. U.S. prosecutors indicted Brad Heppner on multiple charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy, false statements to auditors and falsification of records. The FBI and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the case.

According to prosecutors, Heppner orchestrated a scheme to steal more than $150 million from now-bankrupt firm GWG Holdings. He allegedly induced GWG to invest in Beneficient while he served simultaneously as chair of both organizations. Heppner reportedly created $141 million in debt owed by Beneficient to a secret shell company called HCLP, then falsely claimed to the GWG board directors he had an arm’s-length relationship with HCLP’s manager.

Heppner resigned from GWG in 2021; the business filed for bankruptcy in 2022 with more than $2 billion of debt. Approximately $1.3 billion was owed to investors who’d purchased bonds from GWG. Heppner resigned from Beneficient in 2025 after board members discovered evidence that he’d created fake documents about his relationship with HCLP. 

Heppner allegedly used the funds for a $40 million renovation of his Dallas mansion and ranch in Montalba, Texas, paid off $10 million in credit card debt, paid his taxes, and purchased jewelry. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Jennifer Liebman, CFE, is the editor-in-chief of Fraud Magazine. Contact her at jliebman@ACFE.com.