German probe of suspected fraud and money-laundering extends to Canada

German police said on Tuesday they had conducted an internationally co-ordinated action against alleged fraud and money laundering networks that compromised German payment service providers and racked up damages of hundreds of millions of euros.

Multiple people were arrested and searches occurred in Germany, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the U.S. and Cyprus, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office (the Bundeskriminalamt, or BKA).

The suspects are accused of using credit card details belonging to victims from 193 countries, the authorities said.

"There is also suspicion that the defendants compromised four major German payment service providers in order to process payments," the BKA said.

Damages are estimated to be "in the mid-three-digit million [euros] range."

Authorities are expected to provide further details at a news conference on Wednesday.