ISF LUMEN: helping to protect people from false claims and organised crime

Imagine you receive a phone call claiming that your family member got into trouble, and you need to pay a fine to avoid getting into more trouble. This scenario is very common across Europe. Fraudsters contact people, particularly the elderly, under false claims, seeking cash or valuables. Telephone fraud has emerged as a major problem, resulting in millions of euros in losses and leaving many victims feeling humiliated and insecure.

The EU-funded project ISF LUMEN strengthens international cooperation between police across Europe to combat this type of crime. Thanks to the project, in 2024, German police, along with European partners, prevented almost 400 crimes and EUR 4.85 million in losses related to fraudulent calls. They also dismantled a large network behind these calls and discovered three call centres in Poland.

The project focused on four key areas. First, on raising awareness about the risks of this type of crime, informing people about how these scams work and how to protect themselves through radio spots and a podcast produced with the Berlin Police.

The project’s second focus is combatting shell game fraud which is a crime that takes place in public spaces, particularly at tourist hotspots, with the intention to deceive victims into believing that they have a chance at winning the game. Seemingly harmless, these games cannot be won and are carried out by organised, cross-border criminal groups. The project helps fight shell game fraud by using new surveillance methods like covert technology and drones to gather better evidence.

In addition to combating crime against the elderly and shell game fraud, the project tackles other types of organised property crime, such as Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and motor vehicle crime. In both areas, crime has gone down mainly because of several key actions: police from different countries working together on investigations, arrests made during special joint operations, rapid sharing of information, efforts to take away money and property from criminals, better security measures, and fast court cases that result in long prison sentences.

ISF LUMEN also offers an “Operational Toolbox 2.0” for partner countries to apply for financial support during their investigations related to organised property crime or to borrow technical equipment.

ISF LUMEN enables rapid and straightforward exchange of knowledge between investigators from 21 countries, focusing on the most pressing areas of organised property crime. With over EUR 5 million in confiscated assets, 185 cross-border operations, and support for 66 international investigation teams, the project helps protect EU citizens and is a success story of international police cooperation.

The project is part of the EUROPOL’s European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) framework of international police work.

EMPACT is instrument for operational cooperation to fight serious and organised crime at an EU level. It brings together police, customs and judicial authorities from various member states, non-EU actors as well as the private sector.

Duration: 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025

Countries: Albania, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Budget: EUR 2 000 000 

EU contribution: EUR 1 800 000 

Fund: ISF

Policy: Organised Crime

Project information: ISF LUMEN