Five alleged international fugitives were arrested in Southern California on Wednesday at the request of German authorities. The suspects, Medhat Mourid of Woodland Hills, Andrew Garroni of Los Angeles, Guy Mizrachi of Agoura Hills, Ardeshir Akhavan of Irvine, and Canadian national Tunde Benak of Irvine, are accused of participating in a large-scale fraud scheme in Germany.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the suspects orchestrated a scheme involving recurring bogus debit or credit card charges from fictitious merchants. The charges were kept below $57 to avoid suspicion and were linked to fake companies using websites accessible only via direct links or URLs.
German authorities claim the scheme defrauded thousands of victims out of more than €300 million, creating a “shadow financial system” in the country. The operators allegedly colluded with German payment service processors, including executives and compliance officers, to process these fraudulent payments.
The U.S. Marshals Service arrested the men, who made their initial appearances in federal court in Los Angeles. Authorities plan to extradite them to Germany to face charges. The arrests are part of a broader investigation that has also led to the detention of former employees and executives of German payment processors.
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