Operation Herakles: 13,888 numbers disconnected

Six authorities from Germany and Austria published a joint set of figures at 9:35 a.m. on September 25, 2026: over the past three months, Operation Herakles has taken 9,304 German phone numbers out of service, numbers investment fraudsters had used to call their victims. Since the operation began the total stands at 13,888 numbers, 13,397 of them German and 491 Austrian. If a call about a crypto investment reaches you in the coming weeks, that figure is precisely why you should handle the conversation differently than before.

The announcement comes from the Karlsruhe public prosecutor general’s office with its cybercrime centre, the Baden-Württemberg state criminal police office, the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, the Federal Network Agency and the Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office. It targets a form of fraud the authorities call cyber trading fraud: simulated trading in crypto-assets, foreign exchange or shares on platforms that never held a licence.

Operation Herakles on September 25, 2026: 9,304 phone numbers disconnected in three months

The figures in the press release are tiered. Over the past three months, 9,304 German phone numbers were taken off the network. The cumulative total since the operation started stands at 13,888 numbers. The authorities state the split explicitly: 13,397 from Germany, 491 from Austria.