Five California residents were arrested at the request of the Federal Republic of Germany for an alleged fraud scheme involving fake recurring card charges from phony merchants, U.S. officials announced on Wednesday.

The suspects allegedly organized a scheme where they deliberately kept the monthly charges below €50 to avoid suspicion among victims, according to German authorities.

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The five men, four of them U.S. citizens, were identified by authorities as Medhat Mourid, of Woodland Hills, Andrew Garroni, of Los Angeles, Guy Mizrachi, of Agoura Hills, Ardeshir Akhavan, of Irvine, and Canadian National Tunde Benak, of Irvine.

The men are accused of scamming thousands of victims out of more than €300 million, which r

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