Investigators in Germany searched 15 homes across seven federal states on Wednesday, targeting 15 suspected members of an online "hater community" accused of waging a coordinated campaign against a 44-year-old man from Karlsruhe.
According to police and prosecutors, the suspects — aged 22 to 49 — pursued the man both online and offline between March 2023 and September 2026. They are accused of coercion and threats, theft, property damage and defamation. The group allegedly damaged the victim's home and the graves of his family members, and sent large volumes of insulting or threatening emails in his name to politicians, memorial sites, retailers and educational institutions, some carrying incitement and far-right content — deliberately triggering criminal complaints and investigations against him.
The victim, described by authorities as a social-media figure who posts "strongly polarising" content, mainly publishes livestreams of up to 80 minutes on YouTube, in which he presents himself as an entertainer and discusses his daily life alongside politics and social issues. Investigators say the case began in January 2024, after internet users joined a loose group — parts of which call themselves "Freikreuzzug" (FKZ) — that coordinated actions against him through online channels.
The searches were carried out in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Alongside numerous data carriers, officers also seized a large indoor cannabis plantation.
The case is a striking example of how online mobbing can cross into organised offline crime, and of the tactic of committing offences in a target's name to turn the authorities against them. It also points to the difficulty of investigating harassment coordinated across state lines and platforms — the very structure that lets such groups operate while each individual act stays hard to attribute.
