Online Scams: The Shady World of Fraudulent Investment Sites

Bamberg Regional Court, mid-June, enter Shay Benhamou. The Israeli, who 20 months ago had to relocate his permanent residence to Germany – into a pretrial detention cell – strides into the courtroom as if he had spent the night not behind bars but in a hotel. Clean-shaven, white shirt, sleeves casually rolled up – looking like the boss on a casual Friday.

And just in case there was anyone in the courtroom unaware that that is exactly what he had been – the CEO of a company – the way he carries himself would give it away. How he speaks with his lawyers, the way he waves an outstretched index finger at them. Or, as can also happen, how he pokes one of them in the chest, just in case that one is not falling into line.

DER SPIEGEL relies on support from its readers. To enjoy the rest of this story, please consider signing up for a subscription to The German View, our English-language channel on Substack. The article can be found here , and our Substack channel can be found here  . Alternatively, you can sign up for a SPIEGEL+ subscription below.

There is no question that the man standing before the court is not a broken man. Only his attempt to lean casually against the wall and cross his feet does not quite succeed – the ankle monitor restricting his movement reminds him that although he is the main character here, he is no longer the one calling the shots. A few weeks later he confesses and is sentenced to four years in prison. Aiding and abetting fraud.

At first glance, the case in Bamberg is against him alone – Shay Benhamou, 52, head of a software company in Ramat Gan, Israel, from 2015 to 2021. And yet it is about so much more: about perhaps the most aggressive cancer in the financial world, and its ever-new metastases. Against an international network. Against white-collar criminals who take investors' money and feel completely safe while doing so. In Israel, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine. And, safest of all, in the shadow world of the World Wide Web.