Sunday 07 November 2021
According to cell phone evaluation
BKA detects 900 crimes
Because messages are encrypted in a complex manner via Encrochat, criminals in particular use the service. The Federal Criminal Police Office still manages to skim off millions of secret messages. They lead investigators to hundreds of firearms and fortunes in the millions.
According to the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, the analysis of data from encrypted cell phones from the Encrochat provider has now led to several hundred arrest warrants. By accessing the data, over 900 arrest warrants could have been executed in Germany so far, he told “Bild am Sonntag”. In addition, around 300 firearms were seized and almost 230 million euros in assets were secured.
“The criminal offenses identified were particularly drug offenses, which is why we will be placing a clear focus there in the next few years,” said the BKA boss in Wiesbaden of the newspaper. In 2020, the BKA had received Encrochat data relating to Germany via Europol. This was preceded by Europe-wide investigations into the encrypted cell phones.
Encrochat was mainly used by criminals. The service was considered unbreakable because of its extensive encryption. The police still managed to siphon off more than 20 million secret messages last year.
BKA boss Münch also commented in the interview on the development of crime in Germany: For 2021, one expects “a sharp increase” in cyber crime, such as computer fraud. “Here we registered an increase of around ten percent in 2020 and expect a comparable trend this year as well.” There will also be increases in the area of subsidy fraud, for example – “not least due to fraud in connection with corona subsidies”. In the case of property crimes or violent crimes, Münch assumed a decline due to the pandemic.