Strg_F

The Crimenetwork is the largest forum for cybercrime in Germany. The only purpose: to make money through crimes. Credit card details and drugs are offered here, you can find instructions for fake shops or buy stolen ID details. A kind of eBay classifieds for gangsters. The CTRL-F reporters Jonas and Timo set out to find the people behind it. What makes the crime network tick?

Winter on Lesbos mainly brings a lot of rain. The people's tents in the newly built Kara Tepe refugee camp are standing in the water. Abdul, a 28-year-old Afghan, sends us photos of everyday life in the camp: There are no heaters, no warm water, too few toilets. Residents here say Kara Tepe is even worse than Moria. And Moria was already hell. Observers repeatedly warned and continue to warn about the conditions in the camp. There is neither a lack of money nor a lack of attention. STRG_F reporter Armin wonders why the situation has hardly changed: "Could it be that the situation is intentional?" Are they part of a political deterrence strategy?

Who are the Trump fans who stormed the Capitol in Washington and how dangerous are they?

The right-wing extremist murderer Stephan Ernst has been sentenced to life imprisonment. In June 2019, he shot the politician Walter Lübcke on his terrace in Kassel. The court sees him as the sole perpetrator. But was Ernst a lone perpetrator? Or was there a network behind the crime? And above all: Who were the people around the right-wing terrorist?

A motorcycle accident. Amputation. Disability. Lisa's life changed from one moment to the next. But why does she have to listen to stupid sayings and insults? Comedians Carl Josef and Tan Caglar also talk about bullying - and what you can do about it.

Reviews on the Internet – many of them are said to be fake. That's not that surprising at first. But could you actually start a restaurant that specializes in nasty, fried food and still get top reviews? CTRL_F Reporters Han and Desiree test rating portals and WhatsApp groups for product testers. And they ask: Who is actually behind all the fake reviews?

Tine Seidemann visited German and Danish zoos to understand how the zoo system works and asks the question: Do we need zoos or should we abolish them?

Combat drones are already in use everywhere today. In Germany, consideration is being given to whether the Bundeswehr should also be equipped with armed drones. Most recently, armed drones have played a crucial role in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh. Modern warfare was practiced in the Caucasus, which foreshadows how the wars of the future will be fought. Reporters Florian and Manuel were there for CTRL_F. They wanted to know what combat drones do to soldiers and civilians. How do wars change them? And what are the arguments for and against the purchase of armed drones for the Bundeswehr?

Insurance salesman, millionaire, wanted by arrest warrant - Mehmet E. Göker is the ex-pop star among Germany's insurance agents. And Göker has a lot on his plate. He has been in hiding in Turkey for years, fleeing the German authorities. But now he is starting a new business via Instagram&Co. Göker promises fat profits and easy business. STRG_F reporter Eva wants to know: Is his new business really clean? She goes looking for insiders, leads in Germany and Mehmet Göker himself. What is the insurance agent up to?

Corona in Germany currently means: too little vaccine, too lame vaccination strategy, many vaccination doubters. While we are stuck in a never-ending lockdown, Israel is much further along. 40% of the population has already received both doses of the vaccine. CTRL_F reporter Désirée wants to know: Why is Israel so much further? What about the doubts: did the vaccine production really go so quickly, can what is currently being vaccinated really be safe? And do the currently approved vaccines still work against the mutants or are we running out of time? Many NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders are already saying that this pandemic will only be over when it is over everywhere. As long as the virus continues to spread, it will continue to cost lives - and continue to mutate. Why a global vaccination strategy is now essential for survival, who the winners and losers are in the vaccination game.

A week at sea with Lake Shepherd. They used to call themselves “eco-terrorists” and wanted to use radical actions to save dolphins and whales. They have already sunk ships to protect animals. On their mission off the French Atlantic coast, they are dealing with dolphins that get caught in the nets of fishing boats. Thousands of them die every year as so-called “bycatch”. Sea Shepherd wants to observe the fishing boats, ready to disrupt their work if necessary. What will happen?

The research began with an email in the CTRL_F inbox. And even if not all questions have been clarified today - one thing is already certain: the award-winning cinema documentary "Lovemobil" is largely not real. In the STRG_F interview, director Elke Lehrkrauss admitted that she used actors as protagonists, including acquaintances.

Lieferando is one of the big winners from the crisis. During the pandemic, more orders were placed than ever before. But what about those who bring the food home to us? What do the drivers experience in this job? What are the working conditions? Reporter Andrea wanted to know exactly – and tried it out. She worked as a driver for Lieferando for three weeks. What did she experience? A daily battle against time, a broken bike and bizarre customers.

You can buy it as “herbal mixtures” in small, colorful bags – and it’s supposedly completely legal: synthetically produced cannabis. But at least 159 people have died from it since 2016 alone. “It was the hardest drug I’ve ever taken,” Thomas tells us. He smoked synthetic weed for years and almost died from it. What kind of devilish stuff is this? Is it actually legal? And who sells something like that? STRG_F reporter Nino spoke to consumers who reported on their horror trips. He met the police, who are telling the story: The police are hunting down the dealers of such herbs using completely new means - and in the end they don't catch them all. And for the first time we actually meet a representative of one of the largest shops for synthetic cannabis in Germany.

The puppy business is booming. They are offered for very high prices on Internet platforms such as eBay classifieds. The problem: The animals are mostly brought to Germany illegally, they are far too young and sick. How is the illegal puppy business going? And how can you protect yourself from criminals? STRG_F reporter Alexandra meets those affected and follows the trail of a criminal gang that is behind the illegal puppy trade.

Qosay K. is dead. What happened? Did the police have anything to do with the death?

Actress and presenter Nina Bott liked to post pictures from her family life. Until one day she gets an anonymous tip. Photos from her Instagram profile showing her children appeared on the dark web. On a site used by pedo criminals. Harmless photos of her children were tagged with hashtags like SexyKids or UglyBoy, along with disturbing comments. She immediately deleted all recognizable images from her Instagram account that openly depicted her children. Unlike Nina Bott, many young people and parents do not know that images are being stolen from the Internet and misused everywhere. How big is this phenomenon actually? Where do the images come from, where exactly do they end up, what happens to them there? We investigated these questions through data research. Together with the ARD magazine PANORAMA, we started a complex experimental setup and over several months downloaded and analyzed data from forums, image boards and photo platforms used by pedosexuals and pedocriminals.

Corona seems to be over in Israel! Restaurants, bars and clubs are open, life is back. All of this is possible because over 60% of the Israeli population has already been vaccinated. Israel is the world vaccination champion. But is Israel safe from the pandemic? Just a few kilometers away - in Palestine - the third wave of Corona continues to rage. STRG_F reporter Alena currently lives there, in Ramallah, near the Israeli border. She takes a personal look at the topic and takes you into both worlds. How safe can Israel be as long as Palestine is not vaccinated in the same way? Only 3% of people there have so far received a vaccination against Corona. Alena speaks to doctors and epidemiologists who believe that Israel's vaccination success could soon be worthless as a result. Because both sides are much more mixed than it seems at first glance.

He was the most famous neo-Nazi in East Germany. The media called him the “Leader of Berlin”: Ingo Hasselbach, at the time of reunification he was in his early 20s. Hasselbach was a central figure in the militant right-wing movement. He and his comrades stockpiled weapons, practiced in military sports groups, and agitated against political enemies. It was the time when asylum seekers' accommodation burned down, when the right and the left fought street fights. Neo-Nazi cadres from the West sensed the opportunity for the brown revolution, the right-wing revolution, especially in the East. Reporter Birgit, who grew up in the GDR herself, met neo-Nazi dropout Ingo Hasselbach. How did that happen? And how has this time shaped today? Hasselbach says: “We developed structures that are still effective today.”

Drugs, forged documents, stolen credit card details. You can get all of this on the dark web. Payments and sales are primarily made in Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency allows criminals to hide their identity. But Bitcoin is more transparent than many people know: Every transaction made with Bitcoin is stored on the so-called blockchain. It is the technology behind Bitcoin and a kind of cash book that everyone can see. STRG_F reporters Zita and Timo ventured into new journalistic territory and, together with blockchain expert Jochen Schäfer, followed suspected illegally earned coins. A search that led the team from the darknet forum “Crimenetwork” through a residential area to Tübingen to a crypto billionaire.

“Golden boy” Tobias Gröschler sold gold on eBay and made a lot of money with it. The problem: It's junk from China: copper and brass. He says he always stated in his item descriptions that it was fake gold. But would so many people really have struck? Tobias was convicted of fraud and appealed with his lawyers. STRG_F reporter Gunnar follows the trial in Oldenburg and asks himself: How does the gold business work?

“You antisocial bastard are a disgrace to all women of integrity,” “I will make sure that you will never set foot in a company in this world again.” Anna receives such news almost every day. The sender: her ex-husband and cyberstalker. There was a search for him, but the police couldn't find him. The investigation has been on hold since then. So Patrizia goes looking for it herself.

Social media is full of photos of cute little baby monkeys. Stars and influencers pose with orangutan or chimpanzee babies. But there is incredible suffering behind it: baby monkeys are torn from their parents so that people can cuddle with them. Animal trainers like the American Doc Antle have turned this “love of animals” into a business. Felix and Michel were in the USA, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand - on a global research into the background of the baby monkey business.

Monkeys and their babies are poached and traded. Wildlife trafficking is the fourth most lucrative illegal business in the world, after counterfeit products, drugs and human trafficking. The trail of the animal mafia takes our reporters Felix, Michel and Manuel from the African rainforests to Asia. In the Democratic Republic of Congo they find a mother monkey who was shot by poachers. They pose as animal traffickers to infiltrate illegal networks. On the roof of a Bangkok shopping center they discover a bonobo - a very rare species of great ape. Will you track down the animal traffickers? And what will happen to the bonobo?

Since its founding, one man has accompanied the AfD - like a shadow. He interferes in party careers and is said to repeatedly offer money. He has no consulting contract with the AfD, no function within the party and is not even a member. But the man apparently has contacts right at the top of the right-wing party in the Bundestag, up to the parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel. He also has contact with other parties, such as the CDU and FDP, but nowhere does his network seem to be as large as in the AfD. For years, Katja and Sebastian have been on the trail of the dubious political advisor, looking for him in several countries, most recently in Austria. They also came across an intricate network of online portals and investment companies. They also found politicians among the managing directors. What is the purpose of this network? And why does the man advise AfD politicians - apparently without anything in return? It is a story of dependencies, power and political influence.

Nazis in organized crime? This research begins with a large-scale raid: more than 500 officers search 27 properties that are connected to the “Turons,” a Nazi troop from Thuringia. Large quantities of crystal meth, weapons and cash are confiscated in the Nazis' private apartments, storage rooms and brothels. A white stretch limousine will also be secured. The STRG_F reporters Sebastian and Timo have been on the Turons for a long time - they look around the Nazis' living and business premises, they meet suspected members and they talk to an informant who has been watching the Nazis for years. What is behind the “Nazi mafia”?

Gold recovery, hostage rescue, major order from Lidl. Andreas Holst has always had a knack for good stories. Unfortunately, they kept believing people and lost a lot of money as a result. The imposter is wanted in Germany with an arrest warrant. In Ireland he has gone into hiding under the name Aindriu MacHolst and appears in court as a lay lawyer. Why could his case never be heard by a German court?

Tired of vacationing in your own garden or on the balcony? STRG_F Reporter:Inside Lisa and Han are taking you on a trip around the world today - on a bike and with one of you. The sports management student Ferry cycled 27,000 kilometers in 2018, through 18 countries and four continents. How does it work? And what has Ferry experienced?

Are YouTube and Telegram making us radical? How many videos do I have to watch before I become a “lateral thinker”? The STRG_F reporters Svea and Caroline wanted to know.

During her research, Nadia meets a drug dealer who cooks CBD liquid himself and sells it on a large scale.

Panic at the airport in Kabul. Many people want to escape. But who is to blame for their desperate situation? The USA and Germany point to the Afghan armed forces: They have shown too little will to fight. But is that true? Former US General David Petraeus, himself a commander in Afghanistan in 2010-2011, contradicts this. The situation of the Afghan armed forces was "hopeless" after the Americans withdrew their air force far too quickly. Can you expect someone to fight when they know that support is no longer coming? Our reporter Jonas is in the USA and interviewed David Petraeus exclusively for STRG_F.

Konstantin is actually a completely normal young man: He comes from Kiel, is training to be a farmer after school and likes to play computer games. But in September 2016 he suddenly disappeared. Without telling friends or family, he goes to northern Syria to join the Kurdish YPG in the fight against IS. Together with volunteers from other countries, he is helping to liberate Syria from the reign of terror. They are victorious, IS is driven out. But Constantine does not survive the war. How did he die?

The apartment offer sounded tempting. But then the landlord sent this message: He is a doctor from Blankenese and earns well. “What can you offer me instead of the 500 euros? You could save that money…” - Sex instead of rent?! Reporter Sulaiman can hardly believe it when a friend shows him this chat history. A landlord who demands sexual compensation? Was this a blatant isolated case? Sulaiman researches and it quickly becomes clear: Many young women experience such situations when looking for an apartment: ambiguous sayings, blatant offers, grabbing. Sulai gets support from reporter Isabel. She does the self-experiment. What does she experience and will Sulai and Isa manage to talk to the brash landlords?

Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada: The fake clothing market is booming and influencers and rappers are pushing it because they sometimes have collaborations with the brands. A network of dubious underground dealers has developed in Germany because more and more young people want the designer items. We visited one and it was really dangerous. According to surveys by Bain & Company, Generation Z is the fastest-growing target group for luxury companies - growing thirteen-fold in five years. Because the brands are focusing on this group, even though they don't have the money to do so. They are also influenced, for example, by YouTube formats such as “How much is your outfit worth?” or by rap lyrics. According to an analysis by STRG_F, around half of the lyrics to the number 1 hits in rap over the last five years contain brand names. We talk to rappers like Kontra K and Lil Shrimp, to YouTubers Lion and Benie, to dealers and customers.

Journalist John Götz spent years researching and combing through files. In the end he found the man who calls himself Mr. X. Mr. X tortured inmates at Guantanamo to obtain information and confessions. Among the prisoners: Mohamedou Slahi, who wrote a book about it. After all this time, he now wants to talk to Mr. X, the man who gave him many bad memories. John meets with Gunnar and tells him how he managed to track down Mr. X and actually brought the two together.

We are European champions in blood consumption. In Germany we use so much donor blood that supplies are constantly running out - even though around 1.9 million liters of blood are collected through donations every year. As a result, they say we should donate even more. But research by Ute Jurkovics and Tine Seidemann shows that we could also get by with less. We follow the blood from donation to heart surgery – and to the pharmaceutical industry. Why do we need all this blood? Where do we waste it?

Right-wing extremist Turks in Germany? Sounds kind of strange. But yes, right-wing extremism also exists in migrant communities. They call themselves the Gray Wolves and their destination is Turan. A Greater Turkish Empire, from Central Anatolia through Afghanistan to China and Russia. In the opinion of the Gray Wolves, the Turks are above all other people. Germany is also repeatedly the scene of their ideology. What makes the Gray Wolves tick? We spoke to two dropouts who gave us insights into the scene and explained why the gray wolves are dangerous. An Armenian woman tells how she was threatened. Why are they still allowed?

It started with a leak: 12 million confidential documents. The data was shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the ICIJ. Together with more than 600 journalists from 117 countries and a team from NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, we spent months researching invoices, account powers of attorney and company documents from the offshore world. We looked deep into the secret, shadowy world of finance and found criminal motives and greedy people. CTRL_F shows how and, above all, why rulers, autocrats and criminals hide their money offshore.

Aaliya from Hamburg was kidnapped by her mother to join IS at the age of three. The Federal Republic brought her back five days ago, and today she is 11.

Who is behind xHamster? Imagine if we didn't know who was behind Facebook. Or behind Amazon. Mark Zuckerberg would never have to explain himself to the US Congress, Jeff Bezos could not be confronted with the working conditions in the Amazon warehouses. But that's exactly how it is with xHamster, Germany's most visited porn site. Together with the news magazine DER SPIEGEL, we spent months searching for the beneficiaries of a porn empire. For many years no one knew who exactly made money with xHamster. And no one knew who was ultimately responsible for the sometimes illegal, abusive content on the site. Until now.

Sanjay Shah once had three Ferraris - but only for the weekend. He drove to work in a Mercedes G-Class. To this day, he says, his favorite car. And his yacht and crew were waiting in the Dubai Marina at any time of the day or night when he needed to kill a little time - or take a break from his hard job. Shah did cum-ex business. European taxpayers are said to have suffered damage of around 1.4 billion euros. Manuel, Oliver, Christian and other colleagues have been researching the big tax heist with Cum-Ex, Cum-Cum and other businesses for years. They reported on Panorama (ARD) in ZEIT and also with us. The constitutional state is now also successfully defending itself against suspected cum-ex tax robbers and trying to get the money back. Some of them have already been convicted. So you might think their deals are over. But new research paints a different picture.

Attila Hildmann was one of the loudest conspiracy ideologists before he fled abroad. He is wanted on a warrant. Then his closest companion left him and took a large part of his computers and social media accounts with him. CTRL_F received the data. We examined them because they may provide new background information on Hildmann's radicalization and work. The most important finding: the right-wing radical wanted by the police apparently had an informant in the investigative authorities. Thanks to the possibility of data preparation by OCCRP and Jan Lukas Strozyk!

What actually happens to the millions of shoes that we sort out every year? To find out, we bugged 11 celebrities' old sneakers with GPS trackers and disposed of them in different ways. In the first episode we tell you the fate of the old shoes of Fynn Kliemann, Jan Delay and Carolin Kebekus. The research puts Nike in particular in need of explanation. Is it possible that the largest sporting goods manufacturer shreds new shoes and disguises it as recycling?

STRG_F reporter Isabel makes her way to Switzerland and wants to know: What is it like to grow up in the sect and how great is the danger from the OCG?

He calls himself Geo Slam and sells a “ticket to Hollywood,” claiming to work for world-famous producer RedOne. Together with him he produced stars such as Lady Gaga, J.Lo and Jason Derulo. It seems like he has really achieved great success in the international music industry. And so he gets young talent to work together and gives them the feeling that he can make them big. “He told me: You are the next Lady Gaga,” says singer Marije from Switzerland. Silas from Denmark also thought he had made it: “Silas, you will be the next big thing! You’ll be a huge star,” Geo Slam promised him. But the dream came at a cost. Some artists paid Geo Slam tens of thousands of euros so that he would produce songs for them, market them internationally and make them big. But after recording the songs, Geo Slam seems to be doing little in this direction. Instead, he makes further demands or sends new invoices.

Marcel Jeninga still finds it difficult to talk about it. His daughter was abused by a neighbor as a very small child - and took over 100,000 photos of it. He shared many of them in pedo-criminal forums on the dark web. “I find it violent, the pedophiles are watching my daughter,” he says. He knows that it is difficult to get rid of the pictures: “But the authorities have to do more to get them down.” Is it really that difficult? CTRL_F Reporter Daniel tried it and achieved an incredible feat. He was able to remove a total of around 80,000 links and 13.55 terabytes of data from what is probably the largest pedo forum in the world - and almost brought the forum to a standstill at times. Even the admin wrote to him and admitted that a forum could be “annoying to death” in the long run. What we asked ourselves: Why doesn't anyone else do this? For example the police? A joint research by STRG_F with Panorama (ARD).

Antifa groups are rallying behind the hashtag "FreeLina" - freedom for Lina E. A broad left-wing scene is demonstrating its solidarity with Lina E. at demos and online. The student has been in custody for over a year. The federal prosecutor's office accuses her and three young men of being members of a criminal organization and of having attacked and injured neo-Nazis or suspected neo-Nazis in several cases. Investigators report the group's high level of professionalism and brutality. While the defendants have to answer before the Higher Regional Court in Dresden, the attacks on right-wing extremists continue. STRG_F compiles the facts of the case and researches the militant left-wing scene. Reporters Nino and Felix meet extremists who defend violence against neo-Nazis as a necessary means against right-wing extremism. Do we have a problem with violence from the left in Germany?

What actually happens to sneakers when you throw them into used clothing containers or donate them to aid organizations? To answer this question, we travel behind old celebrity sneakers that we equipped with GPS trackers. In the second episode of the sneaker hunt, reporters Christian Salewski and Felix Rohrbeck follow the tracked shoes along winding paths to Eastern Europe and even to the equator. Kenya is one of the main buyers of used clothing. The trade is competitive, and fires are regularly set on East Africa's largest second-hand market in Nairobi. The garbage dumps are overflowing, partly because of millions of old shoes and clothing. What responsibility do used clothing collectors and manufacturers have for this?