One of Israel’s most senior policemen has just admitted his country’s fast-growing reputation as the home of binary options scams has created a “monster”. Superintendent Gabi Biton has also acknowledged that binary options scams are being masterminded by “a massive organised criminal enterprise” driven by an estimated annual turnover of between $5bn and $10bn a year.
Speaking in front of a new committee of the Israeli parliament in the wake of a number of governments issuing warnings about binary options trading, Mr Biton explained the new legislation designed to combat binary options. He also made it clear his police force were actively investigating the gangsters behind the scams.
The irony is that Israel is actually one of the countries that have already banned binary options sites by treating the activity as gambling which is forbidden in Israel. The only problem is this is a domestic ban so the new legislation being discussed is instead designed to stop gangland-backed telesales operations based in Israel from targeting investors in other jurisdictions around the world.
Mr Biton was also able to demonstrate this is very much an active investigation and not just posturing. He announced that 12 known criminals were arrested in the last month alone although convictions could be hard to secure given the companies involved have either been registered in countries in which gambling sites are legal (including the UK) or in countries where evidence and testimony is notoriously hard to pursue.
Even though this is a sign that one of the key course of binary options fraud is finally taking an active step to crack down on its day-to-day operations, the threat to UK investors is not only still very real but growing at an alarming rate. The number of cases reported by would-be investors blinded by initial successes and the promise of even more attractive returns in the future is getting longer by the day.
Because of the volume of work we do within the digital fraud field, our partner, Richard Howlett, has relatedly been invited to speak to the UK media about the threat of binary options scams. Although his primary message is always one of avoidance – most specifically the necessity of conducting thorough due diligence before you make any financial investment – he has also underlined the first thing any victim of any form of digital fraud must do is seek specialist legal advice. This is because the money you have lost will almost certainly disappear immediately and internationally so the first steps you take must be the right ones.
If you have fallen victim to any form of digital fraud, we can help. Call us on 020 7792 5649 or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today and we will talk you through those first all important steps.
