Law enforcement officers have halted the activities of nearly a hundred more fraudulent “offices”

Since the beginning of last week, law enforcement officers have shut down 94 fraudulent call centers as part of a large-scale special operation. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said this, UNN reports. 

Under the procedural guidance of the prosecutor's offices, the Security Service of Ukraine and National Police are carrying out a large-scale special operation to expose such centers throughout the country.

According to Ruslan Kravchenko, since the beginning of last week alone:

411 searches have been conducted;

the activities of 94 fraudulent call centers have been terminated;

1,794 operator workstations have been shut down.

"Investigative actions took place in Kyiv region, Dnipropetrovsk region, Odesa region, Lviv region, Vinnytsia region, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk region and other regions," the Prosecutor General said. 

During the searches, more than 3,336 pieces of computer equipment, 1,346 phones, 5,238 SIM cards, 20 crypto wallets and 90 bank cards were seized.

Twenty-two vehicles were also seized, including Porsche Cayenne, Cadillac Escalade, Bentley Bentayga, Dodge Charger, Audi, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz GLS 450 cars and BMW motorcycles.

More than USD 2 million, EUR 64,000, cash in hryvnias, a kilogram of bank gold bars, luxury Rolex, Cartier, Rado and Certina watches, and other jewelry were discovered.

"The schemes varied, but the goal was the same: to take possession of other people's money. The organizers recruited staff with knowledge of foreign languages, trained operators using specially prepared scripts, and in many cases tested employees on polygraphs, attempting to protect their criminal activities from exposure," Kravchenko said. 

The Prosecutor General described the roles of those involved in implementing the fraud schemes: some posed as consultants offering profitable investments, while others lured people onto fake trading platforms. Still others sought out people who had already lost money to fraudsters and deceived them a second time, allegedly offering help with "recovering investments."

According to the investigation, to make their claims convincing, the fraudsters used forged documents, posed as lawyers, bank employees and government officials, and used deepfake technologies. 

In some cases, after people lost their savings, they were persuaded to take out loans, borrow money and sell their property.

The money obtained was converted into cryptocurrency, split among electronic wallets and withdrawn through third-party accounts. The profits were invested in luxury real estate, land, premium cars and other luxury items.

According to the Prosecutor General, the victims included citizens of Ukraine, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, other European Union countries and Central Asia. According to a preliminary estimate alone, they suffered losses of more than UAH 100 million.

"To eliminate transnational fraud structures, we are cooperating with foreign partners within international joint investigation teams.

At present, 26 people have already been notified of suspicion. The analysis of the seized data sets, identification of all victims, organizers and the full circle of those involved lies ahead," Ruslan Kravchenko said. 

Reminder

Law enforcement agencies are systematically working to eliminate fraudulent call centers. Thus, in July, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko reported that since the beginning of the year, the operation of "offices" with 2,000 workstations had been shut down.