Security Service and National Police have uncovered clandestine call centre in Lviv region. PHOTOS
The Security Service and the National Police have uncovered a clandestine call centre in the Lviv region.
This was reported by the SSU press office, according to Censor.NET.
Details
Following a series of comprehensive operations, the organisers of the ‘call centre’ – which had been set up in a flat in one of the local high-rise blocks – were arrested.
This is the first such operation in Ukraine since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initiated tougher penalties for the activities of fraudulent call centres. The actions of those detained have been classified under a new article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which came into force in September 2026.
According to the case file, the suspects gained unauthorised access to the funds of citizens of Ukraine and EU countries, and then embezzled them.
To identify potential victims, the perpetrators created fake female accounts on social media and dating platforms.
Once contact had been established, the perpetrators sent their victims malicious files disguised as Google Photos of attractive young women. Opening such a file installed software on the victim’s device that granted covert remote control over the gadget.
This allowed the criminals to access confidential information and bypass two-factor authentication when logging into online banking, so that they could subsequently steal the victims’ funds.
The stolen funds were then converted into cash via an illegal currency exchange point, using crypto-assets.
Cybersecurity experts from the SSU arrested the three main organisers of the scheme ‘red-handed’ at the call centre premises. In this way, law enforcement officers prevented the possible destruction or concealment of electronic evidence of their unlawful activities.
The suspects have now been served with notices of suspicion under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- the establishment of an organised electronic communications fraud group, the leadership of such a group or a structural unit thereof, as well as participation in such a group;
- fraud;
- unauthorised interference with the operation of information (automated), electronic communications, information and communications systems, and electronic communications networks.
The pre-trial investigation to establish all the circumstances of the offence and identify other individuals who may be involved is ongoing.
In total, between July and September 2026, the SSU uncovered and shut down 60 fraudulent call centres. As a result of more than 250 searches, over 4,000 items of computer equipment, more than 1,800 mobile phones, 45 vehicles, 3,170,000 US dollars, 30,000 euros and 2,550,000 hryvnias were seized.
According to available information, following these large-scale busts, those involved in the fraud schemes are attempting to ‘go underground’: instead of large call centres, they are organising operations in ‘small groups’ working remotely from small flats. However, the SBU and other law enforcement agencies are working systematically to root out and dismantle all fraudulent operations.
