Six fraudsters were extradited to the Czech Republic for a scheme worth UAH 5.5 million: money was transferred to cryptocurrency and cash to buy luxury cars and real estate
Kyiv • UNN
The police extradited to the Czech Republic six fraudsters who defrauded their compatriots of UAH 5.5 million from a call center in Ukraine, posing as bank employees and luring victims into remote access or bank details, converting the money into cryptocurrency or cash to buy luxury goods.
Police extradited to the Czech Republic six fraudsters who defrauded their compatriots of UAH 5.5 million from a call center in Ukraine and transferred the money into cryptocurrency or cash to buy luxury cars and real estate, the National Police reported on Tuesday, UNN reports.
Details
According to the police, all of them were put on the international wanted list for other frauds as part of a criminal organization. The seventh offender will be extradited in the near future, police said.
"The termination of the criminal activity of an international criminal organization and the transfer of criminals from their country to foreign colleagues was made possible thanks to The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), an agreement on the establishment of a joint investigation team concluded between Ukrainian and Czech police officers," the statement said.
Case in point
According to the police, it was established that, together with two Ukrainians, the foreign fraudsters called their compatriots in the Czech Republic using virtual telephony with number spoofing. They posed as employees of a state banking supervisory authority and persuaded the victims to provide remote access to their phones or computers. In some cases, they lured out bank card details and even convinced the victims to withdraw cash and hand it over to a fake courier who would allegedly deliver it to a safe place, law enforcement officials said.
"The funds received from the illegal activity were converted into cryptocurrency or cashed out to buy luxury cars and real estate, which were registered in the names of friends and relatives. In this way, the fraudsters defrauded at least sixteen Czech citizens of UAH 5.5 million," the police said.
More than a hundred Ukrainian and Czech police officers were involved in the investigation. The fraudsters were detained in late April in Odesa, and on May 10, National Police investigators under the escort of the National Guard handed them over to Czech law enforcement agencies at the Krakivets international checkpoint in Lviv Oblast. According to Czech proceedings, these fraudsters caused Czech citizens losses of CZK 30 million, law enforcement officials said.
AddendumAddendum
According to the police, this is the third successful investigation to shut down fraudulent call centers involving Czech citizens.
