(Bloomberg) -- At the start, the job looked like a well-paid role in finance. It ended with a $10,000-a-month drug habit and a cell in a German prison.Most Read from BloombergVietnam Tycoon Loses $18 Billion After EV Maker’s Shares SinkChina Evergrande Group Files Chapter 15 Bankruptcy in New YorkBitcoin Calm Shatters With Sudden Tumble, Mass LiquidationsJeremy Grantham Says Fed Is Kidding Itself on Avoiding a RecessionBig Tech Logs Year’s Longest Weekly Losing Streak: Markets WrapThat’s the sto
That’s the story of Tal-Jacki Z.F., who was involved in an online trading fraud and confessed in 2021 to his part in cheating victims in Germany, Austria and other European countries of almost €9 million .
At the heart of these operations are call centers, dubbed “boiler rooms.” They’re high-pressure environments where the staff rarely know what they are getting into when they are hired, Tal-Jacki said in an interview from his secure rehabilitation facility not far from the German city of Munich. His face reflects the years of alcohol and drug abuse he says he’s been through.
The 43-year-old has been spearheading cross-border efforts to catch the criminals and shut down scams. The brains behind the network of gangs running the scams have, in the past, picked on some very high-profile targets. Yet for Tal-Jacki, the atmosphere in the operation became more threatening over time, as Barak began moving around with armed bodyguards.
Clients are then handed over to other agents, who act as “investment advisers” and are trained to use techniques of psychological manipulation. When the 45-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, her world broke down. Looking for some distraction, she signed up with an online dating platform.
He introduced her to a trading platform, where she put in €100. She was soon rewarded with a payout of €200 — real money that landed in her bank account. Convinced by this success, she invested more and more, eventually borrowing €60,000.
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