A criminal complaint against fraudsters: why you need one, even when it won't recover the money directly
"Why go to the police if it won't get my money back?" I hear this question in almost every case — and every time I debunk the same myth. The short answer: in financial fraud cases, the criminal track often reaches the money faster than a civil claim. It simply takes a different path.
The myth: the civil claim is the main tool. The reality: it is powerless without a defendant who has money
To win a civil claim, you need to know exactly whom to sue — and the defendant needs assets from which the sum can actually be recovered. The people who run these call centres deliberately hide behind front men across several jurisdictions precisely to make that impossible. A public prosecutor plays by different rules: the European Investigation Order (Directive 2014/41/EU) allows the authorities of one EU country to gather evidence in another within weeks rather than the months that traditional mutual legal assistance takes; it permits authorised searches and access to banking and cryptocurrency information. You do not have to track down the assets yourself — you only have to make yourself known as an injured party in good time.
The myth: my complaint is a formality. The reality: without it, you simply won't be on the list
When the prosecution seizes assets as part of criminal confiscation (Vermögensabschöpfung, §§ 73 et seq. StGB), the funds are distributed among those who are officially registered as injured parties (§§ 459h et seq. StPO). If you don't file in time, the investigation may simply not know about your losses, and when the distribution stage comes you won't be on the list — no matter how real your losses were. This applies equally to crypto and to bank transfers made to call centres. And it is not some peculiarly German invention: Directive 2014/42/EU requires every EU country to have its own mechanism for confiscating criminal assets — it is merely named and drafted differently in each code, while the logic is the same. The Victims' Rights Directive (2012/29/EU), in turn, guarantees the same minimum rights — to be informed and to take part in the proceedings — whether you are a citizen of Germany, Italy or any other country in the Union.
A criminal complaint and a civil claim are not an either/or. Both tracks run in parallel: the criminal proceedings search for and freeze the assets, while the civil claim or distribution application secures your share of whatever is found.
One last myth: the complaint has its limits too — and it won't be turned against you
Honesty matters here just as much as persistence. If the organiser cannot be identified, if the assets are already hidden beyond the investigation's reach, or if the case involves a licensed broker with no signs of fraud, then criminal confiscation is beside the point and a different route is needed. I say this up front, not after months of waiting. And let me lay to rest one more fear: filing a complaint does not harm your civil claim. On the contrary — interview transcripts and seized documents often become the strongest evidence in the civil case as well.
