Let's imagine you withdraw 250 euros from your account and hand the money to the next best, unknown person on the street.

There is no such thing?

According to prosecutors, the scenario is part of everyday life on some trading platforms.

German private investors, otherwise not known for their willingness to take risks, gamble on platforms such as “Fx-Leader” with highly speculative financial derivatives.

The calculation for so much naivety in dealing with one's own assets is now available. Organized gangs are said to have diverted at least 15 million euros from German savers in the past two years. Money that, despite the great commitment of the investigators, has long been in offshore accounts and has been exchanged for crypto currencies. It is highly unlikely that there will still be much to be gained from the accounts of a supposed cable puller in Cyprus. It will certainly not be enough to compensate for the total failure of tens of thousands of investors.

This time the buck cannot be blamed on the financial supervisory authority.

BaFin has warned against CFD trading on the Internet since 2018, and banned several providers from proprietary trading last year.

Many investors have lost track of the mix of low interest rates and investment pressure.

Opportunities, perhaps also greed, have triumphed over prudence.

This is the worst of all investment strategies.