They gave themselves the name the “German driving school for experts,” but according to German prosecutors, the real purpose of their Telegram chat groups was far more sinister — bragging about sexual assaults on women and exchanging advice on how to sedate them.
Court documents reveal that members of these online groups used coded language to disguise their crimes: women were referred to as “cars,” sedatives were called “fuel,” and rape was described as “driving.” Victims were referred to in posts as “dead pigs.”
Investigators have spent years combing through posts across approximately two dozen group chats on the widely used messaging platform. Authorities believe the chats served as an online predator network made up primarily of Chinese men who targeted mostly Chinese women living in Germany. The investigation has already resulted in convictions for three alleged core members on rape and related charges, with a fourth man currently standing trial in Berlin.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call 1-800-656-4673 in the U.S., 116 016 in Germany, or 15117905157 in China.
Frankfurt chief prosecutor Dominik Mies spoke with The Associated Press about the case, saying, “The perpetrators were characterized by a particular ruthlessness, an objectification of the victims, and the perfidious planning of their crimes.”
Many key details about the investigation remain out of public view, including the total number of attacks and suspects connected to the Telegram chats, and how the groups — some of which reportedly had tens of thousands of members — were able to operate for so long without being shut down. It also remains unclear whether these chats are connected to a growing investigation in Europe and the Americas into sexual assaults facilitated by drugs within misogynist online communities.
Germany’s strict privacy laws limit what prosecutors can discuss outside the courtroom, restrict access to documents, and have resulted in members of the public being removed from the Berlin courtroom during certain portions of the ongoing trial.
These restrictions may explain why the case has attracted less public attention in Germany than might be expected. Still, members of Germany’s Chinese community — mostly women — have been showing up to court proceedings to stand in solidarity with the victims, even when they have no personal connection to them.
Fu Xiao, who traveled roughly 500 kilometers — about 310 miles — to attend the Berlin trial, expressed her frustration: “What makes one really angry is to see that such groups hate women, they have no respect. Women aren’t seen as people.”
In China, state-run media has provided extensive coverage of the prosecutions, but broader conversation on Chinese-language social media platforms like Rednote has faced partial censorship. Screenshots and searches show that certain tags have made posts more likely to be deleted or banned on Rednote. However, posts using less direct language — such as references to “date rape” or the vague phrase “students studying abroad in Germany” — have managed to avoid removal. China’s Ministry of Public Security and Rednote did not respond to requests for comment.
The German cases have been compared to the high-profile case involving Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who was repeatedly drugged and raped by her then-husband and men he invited to their home over nearly a decade. That trial, and Pelicot’s choice to waive her anonymity, ignited a broader conversation about rape culture in France and internationally.
During a hearing in Munich for one of the Chinese men convicted in the German investigation, Judge Markus Koppenleitner addressed the wider significance of the case: “Pelicot is not an isolated case. This is not a Chinese or French phenomenon, but one that also exists in Germany and, ultimately, worldwide.”
Similar cases have been emerging around the world. While authorities have not publicly connected them to the German prosecutions, some investigators have said that tips from German law enforcement and journalists were critical to advancing their own cases.
In Los Angeles, German investigators reached out to police last year regarding a potential suspect in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. The defendant — a graduate student from China — is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three women in LA after allegedly obtaining drugs from a Chinese national in Germany.
Last month in the Netherlands, police arrested four men suspected of drugging and sexually abusing women following information shared by authorities in Germany and the United Kingdom. Dutch police said the suspects used social media chat groups to spread videos of the abuse and discuss methods for drugging victims.
And just last week, Europol — the European Union’s police agency — announced “Project Medusa,” an international law enforcement operation aimed at dismantling online networks that promote drug-facilitated sexual assault. Germany and the U.K. are leading the effort, which has already resulted in 57 arrests.
The predator network in Germany was able to operate despite clearly violating Telegram’s terms of service, once again raising concerns about how the platform has been exploited for criminal purposes. In 2024, the app’s founder was arrested in Paris amid allegations that the platform was being used for illegal activity, including drug trafficking and the sharing of child sexual abuse images. He denied any wrongdoing, attributing the problem to a rapid growth in users that he said “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” That investigation remains ongoing.
In a statement, Telegram said, “Sexual violence is explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service and such content is routinely removed,” adding that the company “fulfils all of its legal obligations in relation to such harmful content, including everything set out by” the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The company did not respond to questions about the German cases specifically, including how images, videos, and commentary about sexual crimes could have been posted for years on the platform, or whether Telegram had alerted authorities.
Court documents indicate that some of the German Telegram chats date back to at least 2020. Attorney Magdalena Gebhard, who represented a victim in a prior Berlin trial that ended in a conviction, said there was an inner circle of eight perpetrators and that some of the chat groups had as many as 50,000 members.
According to prosecutors, police only became aware of the network in 2024 after a man in Frankfurt — identified in German court proceedings as Dapeng Z. — shifted from drugging and assaulting female acquaintances to targeting women he met online. German and Chinese media have identified Dapeng Z. as the group’s alleged ringleader. German police arrested him in 2024 with assistance from Chinese law enforcement, according to the Chinese consulate in Frankfurt and the Beijing News, a state-run outlet. He was sentenced in February to 14 years in prison for aggravated rape, attempted murder, and other offenses, though he has appealed. His attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
Authorities have not publicly stated how many women were victimized by the “driving school” network, but have confirmed the investigation is continuing, meaning additional arrests and newly identified victims remain possible. Gebhard’s client, for instance, only discovered she had been sexually assaulted after investigators found video evidence of the attack.
On Wednesday, a verdict and potential sentence is expected in Berlin for defendant Zhiting S., believed to be part of the group’s inner circle according to German and Chinese state media reports. He faces charges of sexual assault, possession of child sexual abuse images, and other counts. Prosecutors say he used prior medical knowledge to instruct a Telegram group on which drugs could be used to sedate women before assaulting them, and that at least one person acted on his guidance before an attack in Frankfurt. German authorities also accused Zhiting S. of repeatedly sexually abusing a woman in China and distributing images of that assault online. His attorney did not respond to questions from the AP. In Germany, defendants are not required to formally enter a plea.
