Network of fraudulent call centres, through which EU citizens were defrauded of 12 million hryvnias, was liquidated. PHOTOS
As a result of a successful special operation within the framework of international cooperation between law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and the Czech Republic, a network of fraudulent call centres was shut down and members of a transnational criminal organisation operating in both countries were identified.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the press centre of the Prosecutor General's Office.
As noted, the operation was organised and conducted within the framework of a joint investigation team involving the Prosecutor General's Office, the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine, the Criminal Investigation Department and Czech law enforcement officers.
The documentation of the transaction was carried out in several stages. The investigation established that the illegal activity was set up by a resident of Dnipro, who is the leader of the group. He involved accomplices from different regions of Ukraine, as well as citizens of the Czech Republic and Moldova.
"The call centres operated in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Kirovohrad regions. The operators of the fraudulent network made foreign calls, presented themselves as employees of banking institutions and fraudulently convinced EU citizens to temporarily transfer money or purchase cryptocurrency allegedly due to the threat of unauthorised access to their accounts. In this way, they managed to seize the amount equivalent to almost UAH 12 million," the statement said.
At present, under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, the organiser and five other persons have been served with a notice of suspicion of creating and participating in a criminal organisation, as well as fraud on a particularly large scale (Part 5 of Article 190 and Parts 1, 2 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Three of them, who are citizens of Ukraine, were detained in accordance with Article 208 of the CPC of Ukraine.
During the searches in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zakarpattia, Poltava regions and Kyiv city, the law enforcement seized documents, computer equipment, mobile phones, bank cards, four expensive cars and other material evidence.
Earlier, as part of the pre-trial investigation, a Moldovan citizen and three Czech citizens were detained in Ukraine and subsequently extradited.
