A coordinated law enforcement operation, supported by Eurojust, targeted call centers operating in Ukraine. Authorities from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine participated in the action. The investigation identified forty-five suspects, and twelve were arrested during the operation. Seventy-two searches were conducted on December 9th across three Ukrainian cities.
The searches took place in Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kyiv, resulting in the seizure of twenty-one vehicles, weapons, a polygraph machine, computers, cash, and counterfeit identification documents. The forged documents included fake IDs for police officers and bank employees. The operation focused on multiple call centers that employed approximately one hundred people recruited from various European countries.
The criminal network is known to have defrauded over four hundred victims using several fraudulent schemes. A common method involved impersonating bank employees and police officers, convincing victims their bank accounts were compromised, and instructing them to transfer money to “safe” accounts controlled by the fraud ring. Another approach involved tricking victims into installing remote access software to steal their bank credentials and hijack their accounts.
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The fraudsters also used a scheme where some members met victims in person to collect cash after using stolen card details. The entire network functioned as a commission-based enterprise, offering employees a payment of up to seven percent of the proceeds from successful scams. Leaders of the ring promised bonuses, such as cash, cars, or apartments in Kyiv, for employees who managed to obtain more than one hundred thousand euros.
Despite the promises, investigators reported that these substantial rewards were never distributed because the employees failed to reach the target amount. According to Eurojust, the criminal network recruited employees from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and other nations, bringing them to the call centers to extort money from victims in those countries. Members had defined roles, which included making fraudulent calls, forging official police and bank certificates, and collecting cash directly from the victims.
Source: European Authorities Dismantle Call Center Fraud Ring Operating In Ukraine