Ukrainian policemen liquidated a fraudulent call center in Odessa, where Czech citizens were robbed of 5.5 million hryvnias
The event was organized by a 40-year-old Ukrainian from Dnipro. As executors, he involved two citizens of Ukraine and six declared in the international wanted list for fraud in the criminal organization of citizens of the Czech Republic.
The attackers used virtual telephony with a number change and called residents of the Czech Republic, posing as employees of the state supervisory banking authority. During the conversation, they inclined the victims to provide remote access to their phone or computer, or they learned the details of the bank card and transferred funds to controlled accounts. In several cases, fraudsters persuaded their victims to withdraw the cash and hand it over to a fake courier, who was allegedly supposed to deliver them to a safe place.
Thus, they managed to deceive at least sixteen residents of the Czech Republic for more than 5.5 million hryvnias. Funds obtained from illegal activities were converted into cryptocurrency or cashed to buy luxury cars and real estate, which were registered to friends and relatives.
Cyberpolice have established the location and identity of the criminals. The right-wingers conducted 23 searches, as a result of which, with the strong support of KORD fighters, a battalion of special purpose police and criminal investigation officers of the GUNP in the Odessa region, they detained all nine participants of the criminal scheme together with the organizer. During the search, computer equipment and mobile phones with evidence of crimes were seized, as well as elite cars of the defendants and more than one hundred thousand dollars in various currencies.
Investigators of the National Police notified the Ukrainian defendants of suspicion of fraud committed on a particularly large scale by a criminal organization. They face up to twelve years in prison with confiscation of property. Foreign criminals are detained on the basis of a prosecutor's order, petitions are sent to the court for referral to the court for their further extradition to the Czech Republic.
The JIT—agreement on the creation of a joint investigation team, concluded between Ukrainian and Czech law enforcement officers and implemented under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, helped law enforcement officers to quickly stop the criminal activities of the international criminal organization.
This is the second case of a successful investigation into illegal activities of call centers within the framework of an agreement on the creation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with Czech law enforcement. In September 2023, the National Police of Ukraine extradited six fraudsters to representatives of the law enforcement agencies of the Czech Republic — they are currently in custody.
National Police of Ukraine
