Ukrainian and Czech law enforcement agencies, in joint international cooperation, dismantled a network of fraudulent call centers, the National Police of Ukraine reported.
“Employees of the Criminal Investigation Department and investigators from the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine established that a criminal group was operating in Ukraine, which set up an international scheme to seize funds from citizens of EU countries, in particular the Czech Republic. Since 2021, the perpetrators had been misleading foreigners by calling them on behalf of financial institutions and claiming that, due to a hacked bank account, funds needed to be temporarily transferred to 'secure' details,” the agency said in a statement .
To document the offenders’ illegal activities, an international investigative group was created with the participation of Czech law enforcement officers. Ukrainian and Czech police conducted a large-scale operation. Searches were carried out in Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Poltava, and Zaporizhzhia regions at the residences of group members and at the locations of the call centers. Physical evidence was seized.
“The fraudulent scheme was organized by a 32-year-old resident of Dnipro, who involved both Ukrainian and Czech citizens. Each member of the group had their own role: so-called call center operators, accountants, administrators, lawyers, personal and office security guards, and a polygraph examiner who tested newcomers for links to law enforcement,” the statement reads.
Police investigators have notified the group’s leader and one of the main participants of suspicion of creating and participating in a criminal organization, as well as of fraud on a particularly large scale (Part 1, Article 255; Part 5, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Measures to select preventive detention are currently being considered.
During the documentation process, the involvement of six Czech nationals in the criminal activities was also established; some of them have already been extradited back home to face prosecution.
