Foreigners file slew of lawsuits against alleged Israeli investment scammers

A new spate of lawsuits suggests that despite legislation and prosecutions by foreign governments, alleged investment fraud remains a lucrative business in Israel, with local law enforcement doing little to crack down on suspected online scammers.

Among the recent lawsuits — filed in Israel by alleged victims from countries including Australia, Azerbaijan, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States — are claims against individuals who used to sell binary options investments and pivoted to other financial instruments. When the binary options industry was outlawed by the Knesset in October 2017 for being irredeemably fraudulent, some of the individuals involved began selling foreign exchange bets, contracts for difference (CFDs), and cryptocurrency investments. Israeli law enforcement has indicted almost no online fraudsters,…