The internet, social media and communications apps have offered new realms of opportunity for fraudsters everywhere. But old-fashioned confidence tricksters, con artists and grifters still proliferate too. The case of the phantom Serbian NGOs that took government money to organise violence prevention workshops in the wake of mass shootings was a particularly cynical example. Read the story:
School Scam: The Phantom Organisations Hoovering up Serbian Public Money
BIRN’s reporters also probed how the exploitation and abuse of OnlyFans models by intermediaries operating via the online platform, how sanctioned oil products originating in Russia and Libya move through Albanian ports, how scammers thrive in unregulated cryptocurrency markets in several countries and how Belgrade’s investment scam call centres were run by a convicted Israeli money launderer and his wife. Read the stories:
From OnlyFans to OnlyScams: The Real Price of Selling Intimacy Online
Albania Emerges as Destination Port for Illicit Oil from Russia and Libya
No Questions Asked: Montenegro’s Crypto ‘Grey Zone’ Worth Millions
Moving Albanian Drug Money, on Trust or in Crypto
In Serbia, Pay-Per-Like Scammers Still Evading Punishment
Boiler Room: Belgrade Call Centres at Heart of Israeli-Linked Investment Scam
