Bremen: Suspected financial fraud suspect turns herself in following public manhunt
A woman from Bremen suspected of opening bank accounts under a false identity for fraud offences has surrendered to police shortly after a manhunt began.
Bremen: Suspected financial fraud suspect turns herself in following public manhunt
A woman from Bremen suspected of opening bank accounts under a false identity for fraud offences has surrendered to police shortly after a manhunt began. The 44-year-old reported to investigators on Wednesday afternoon after police and the prosecutor's office launched a public manhunt on Wednesday morning. This is reported by NDR.de.
The suspect is alleged to have opened several current accounts at various financial institutions between September and December 2023 using a foreign and forged identity document. In doing so, she used a fictitious identity, according to a statement from Bremen police.
Five-figure sums of money were subsequently transferred to the accounts that had been opened in this way. The money allegedly came from various fraud offences. The woman is said to have made the accounts available as so-called "money-laundering accounts" for criminal activities.
Investigators launched a public manhunt on Wednesday morning by publishing photographs and personal details of the wanted person. Just a few hours later, the woman turned herself in at a Bremen police station. She was taken into provisional custody and is now in pre-trial detention.
The Bremen prosecutor's office is investigating the woman on suspicion of organised money laundering and fraud. Investigators believe that the accounts were part of a larger criminal network that committed fraud offences via the internet and laundered the proceeds through various accounts.
Police continue to warn against so-called "money-laundering accounts", in which criminals pay third parties to open accounts in their names. These accounts are then used to conceal money from fraud offences and obscure the origin of the funds.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)