The National Police of Ukraine and Latvia conducted a special operation to detain participants of international fraudulent “call centers” (VIDEO)
Detention of members of an organized criminal group was carried out on the territory of two states. The authorized person “law-abiding” organized the activities of “call centers”. So far, 14 victims of Latvian citizens have been identified, who were seized by fraudsters for almost two million hryvnias. According to the results of the two stages of the special operation, 15 people were suspected in Ukraine and 5 in Latvia.
In March of this year, Ukrainian and Latvian police neutralized the activities of an extensive network of fraudulent “call centers”. Then, thanks to the coordinated actions of the international joint investigation team, it was possible to detain 10 members of the criminal organization.
Fraudsters called citizens on behalf of employees of foreign banks to record allegedly fraudulent activities with their card accounts, asked victims for confidential information, and then transferred funds through so-called “drops” (transit cards to transfer funds) to the accounts Affiliates. Another way to convert electronic money into cash was to purchase various equipment abroad with subsequent sale through an electronics store in Dnipro. In the course of further investigation, several more members of the criminal organization were identified and evidence of their involvement in illegal activities was collected.
To detain the defendants, the operatives of the Department of Strategic Investigations and Terrain Management in the Dnipropetrovsk region, together with the investigators of the regional police, conducted the second stage of the special operation - detained and reported the suspicion to five accomplices of the fraudulent scheme. They incriminate the commission of criminal offenses provided for in parts 1 and 2 of Art. 255 (Creation, leadership of a criminal community or criminal organization, as well as participation in it) and part 4 of Article 190 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In addition, on the territory of Latvia, foreign colleagues detained 5 more people who ensured the withdrawal of victims' funds to bank accounts controlled by the organizers of the criminal organization.
Also, law enforcement officers with the strong support of the special purpose police regiment conducted 15 searches in the territory of Dnipropetrovsk region for places of residence and in vehicles of the defendants. Weapons and ammunition for her, cash, computer equipment and vehicles were seized. The total value of the seized is more than UAH 11 million.
In total, according to the results of the two stages of the special operation, 15 people were suspected in Ukraine and 5 in Latvia. Thanks to the joint and coordinated work of law enforcement officers of the two countries, the victims have already been reimbursed UAH 900 thousand for the damage caused by fraudulent actions.
Exposure activities were carried out jointly with the employees of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Latvia, the Department for Combating Cybercrime of the Central Criminal Police Department of the National Police of Latvia.
National Police of Ukraine
