German Fraud Trends: Losses Moving Abroad

What the numbers show

Germany’s main source is the Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik (PKS, Police Crime Statistics), published each spring by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Interior Ministry (BMI). It counts crimes reported to the police, not convictions. In 2024 the police registered 743,472 fraud (Betrug) cases inside Germany, 1.5% fewer than in 2023 and about 23% fewer than in 2010. But a further 513,518 fraud cases were committed from abroad, where the offence took place outside Germany or at an unknown location and the victim’s loss arose in Germany; 2024 was the first year with reliable figures for these. The BKA says 55.3% of fraud offences in 2024 involved the internet, and only about one in five frauds is reported to the police at all.

The 2025 statistics, presented on 20 April 2026, continue the shift. Domestic fraud cases fell by 8.4% and their recorded losses by 6.7% to €2.7 billion, while fraud from abroad rose by 7.0% and its losses by 65.1% to €2.3 billion (joint PKS 2025 release, published by the Hamburg interior authority). Telephone scams aimed at older people are a large share of the harm. The BKA told dpa in August 2026 that losses to fake police officers (falsche Polizeibeamte) reached €49.5 million in 2025, up from €30.1 million, with cases rising from 3,946 to 4,646. Losses to the “grandchild trick” (Enkeltrick, where the caller poses as a relative) and shock calls (Schockanrufe, where a relative is said to have caused an accident) were about €49.0 million, up from €46.4 million, although recorded cases fell from 6,658 to 4,798 (dpa via Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung).

What is driving it

Much of the fraud now comes from organised call centres and online networks outside Germany, which are hard to prosecute. The BKA’s Federal Cybercrime Situation Report 2025 says about two-thirds of the roughly 335,000 cybercrime cases in 2025 were committed from abroad or from unknown locations, and that artificial intelligence is making attacks faster and more convincing. Criminals rent phone numbers and other services as “crime-as-a-service”: in Operation Heracles, prosecutors in Karlsruhe, the Baden-Württemberg police, the financial regulator BaFin and the Federal Network Agency have had 13,888 numbers used for fake online trading platforms (cyber-trading fraud) switched off. Phishing kits are rented out in the same way; the “Kratos” service taken down in July 2026 had more than 1,800 criminal customers running about 15,000 phishing campaigns a month.

Telephone scams still work because they put victims under intense pressure. The BKA warned in 2023 that shock callers pass the phone between a “crying relative” and a fake police officer or prosecutor and demand “bail” of up to €100,000. Prevention campaigns by the police programme ProPK at polizei-beratung.de now cover shock calls, fake investment adverts and messenger account takeovers, and BaFin publishes almost daily warnings about unlicensed trading websites.

Recent cases

• 2 October 2026: the Verbraucherzentrale NRW consumer centre’s Phishing-Radar warns about emails claiming that Comdirect customers’ photoTAN app expires “today” and must be renewed through a link (Verbraucherzentrale, in German).
• 25 September 2026: BaFin, the Baden-Württemberg police and the Federal Network Agency report that 9,304 German phone numbers used mainly for cyber-trading fraud were switched off in three months under Operation Heracles (BaFin).
• 14 August 2026: the BKA and Frankfurt cybercrime prosecutors say three suspects in Europe have been identified after criminals exploited a software flaw at a payment provider in November 2023 to make unauthorised debits from German online banking accounts, causing losses in the millions; much of the money went to Brazil (BKA, in German).

Press releases and official reports, 2023–2026

Five key releases a year for the last four years, newest first. Most come from German federal and state government agencies, regulators, accident investigators and national statistics; a few news reports are included where they are the clearest public record of an event. Many official releases are published only in German; for those we give an English translation of the title and mark the link (in German). Releases from 2007–2022 are in the expandable list after 2023.

2026

• 25 Sep 2026BaFin, LKA Baden-Württemberg, Bundesnetzagentur“Operation Heracles”: A blow against cybercriminals
• 14 Aug 2026BKAInternational investigative successes after computer fraud causing damage in the millions (in German)
• 20 Jul 2026BKASuccessful strike against one of the world’s most dangerous phishing groups: Germany and the US act against “Kratos” and phishing-as-a-service (in German)
• 12 May 2026BKAFederal Cybercrime Situation Report 2025: Germany in the sights of cybercriminals (in German)
• 20 Apr 2026Federal GovernmentPolice Crime Statistics 2025: a slight fall in offences (in German)

2025

• 8 Dec 2025BaFin, LKA Baden-Württemberg“Operation Heracles”: another strike against international cybercrime (in German)
• 5 Nov 2025BKA, BaFin“Operation Chargeback”: 18 arrests in international action against suspected fraud and money-laundering networks (in German)
• 31 Jul 2025BKAEconomic crime: rising case numbers and high financial losses – Federal Situation Report 2024 (in German)
• 3 Jun 2025BKAFederal Cybercrime Situation Report 2024: many investigative successes amid a persistently high threat (in German)
• 25 Apr 2025BKAFraud in 2024: fewer cases, but big challenges from offences committed abroad (in German)

2024

• 30 Dec 2024Police Crime Prevention (ProPK)New Year’s resolution: talk to people you know about scams (in German)
• 12 Nov 2024BSIThe State of IT Security in Germany 2024 (in German)
• 20 Aug 2024BaFinBaFin raid against operators of unlicensed crypto ATMs (in German)
• 13 May 2024BMI, BKA, BSICybercrime rises again: security agencies dismantle criminal infrastructure (in German)
• Apr 2024BMIPolice Crime Statistics 2023 (in German)

2023

• 4 Dec 2023BSI, ProPKCybersecurity Monitor 2023: online fraud costs money, time and nerves (in German)
• 2 Nov 2023BSIThe State of IT Security in Germany 2023 (in German)
• 16 Aug 2023BKAMore than 130,000 cybercrime cases in 2022: BKA presents the Federal Cybercrime Situation Report 2022 (in German)
• 24 May 2023BKABKA warns about “shock calls”: telephone fraud is increasing (in German)
• 30 Mar 2023BKAPolice Crime Statistics 2022 (in German)

Photo list

How this page is built. Figures come from the official statistical releases linked above; where agencies publish provisional numbers we say so, because they are revised. German statistics are often published separately by each federal state (Land) and some only in German, so we say which area and period each figure covers and translate titles. Photos are public-domain or Creative Commons images credited in each caption; file photos are illustrative and are not from the events described unless the caption says so. This page tracks trends and is not personal safety, medical, legal or financial advice.