A set of handcuffs is pictured.
Los Angeles, California – Federal authorities have arrested five Southern California residents accused of helping run a massive international fraud operation that stole more than €300 million — roughly $347 million — from victims in Germany.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the suspects allegedly built an elaborate digital network that charged millions of unauthorized transactions to victims’ debit and credit cards, each time keeping the amounts small enough — usually under €50 — to slip past suspicion. The scam relied on fake companies, fraudulent websites, and collusion with insiders at German financial institutions.
The five Californians — Medhat Mourid of Woodland Hills, Andrew Garroni of Los Angeles, Guy Mizrachi of Agoura Hills, Ardeshir Akhavan of Irvine, and Tunde Benak of Irvine — were arrested by U.S. Marshals on November 5. Their arrests coincided with an international law enforcement operation that included simultaneous raids and arrests across Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore.
Prosecutors say the group’s scheme went far beyond a typical case of credit card fraud. Investigators in Germany described it as a “shadow financial system” — one that exploited weak points in electronic payment processing to quietly siphon money from consumers over several years.
“The operators of the network then colluded with German payment service processors — including their executives and compliance officers — to process these payments,” the Justice Department said in a statement. Some of those German executives and former employees have also been arrested, suggesting that parts of the financial industry itself had been compromised by the criminal network.
The system worked by creating fake businesses that appeared legitimate on paper — often listing innocuous services like subscriptions or online entertainment — while setting up websites that were only accessible through direct URLs. These sites existed long enough to justify the fraudulent transactions before being shut down and replaced with new ones. Victims rarely noticed the charges, which appeared small and recurring, buried among ordinary purchases on their bank statements.
German investigators estimate the fraud stretched across several years and affected hundreds of thousands of consumers, costing banks and financial processors millions in reimbursements and compliance penalties. Officials said the investigation required deep coordination between law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United States to trace the money trail, which spanned multiple jurisdictions and offshore accounts.
The five Southern California suspects made their initial court appearances in the U.S. this week and are expected to be extradited to Germany to face prosecution. If convicted, they could face significant prison sentences under German law.
Authorities described the arrests as a major step in dismantling one of Europe’s most sophisticated financial cybercrimes in recent memory — a case that exposed just how easily international payment systems can be manipulated from halfway across the world.
For now, investigators on both continents are still combing through digital evidence, hoping to identify more accomplices and recover at least a fraction of the hundreds of millions lost.
