This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCOCCS).
The PCOCCS reports that it has dismantled yet another call center with approximately 180 operators from Moldova that was operating in Ukraine.
To dismantle this criminal group, the authorities of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine formed a joint investigative team with the support of the European agencies Europol and Eurojust. As a result, searches were conducted on Sunday in Chisinau and Anenii Noi with the support of special forces, during which important evidence was seized to bring the perpetrators to justice, including videos containing false advertisements used to deceive victims.
Thus, 180 operators from Moldova, all over the age of 20, specialized in defrauding bank customers in European Union countries, with the majority of victims residing in Romania. They contacted residents of these countries and posed as bank employees responsible for security.
They gained their trust and gained access to their mobile banking apps. As a next step, members of the criminal group transferred the victims’ money to other bank accounts that they had opened in advance in the names of other individuals acting as intermediaries. Alternatively, the victims’ money was also transferred to accounts linked to international cryptocurrency exchanges and gambling platforms. The purpose of using various financial systems to transfer the victims’ money was to cover up the traces of the fraud.
“The operation carried out is just one stage of the investigation. Currently, all evidence obtained and physical evidence seized are being analyzed, while criminal proceedings and special investigative measures are continuing with the aim of establishing the full mechanism of the crime, identifying all organizers, coordinators, beneficiaries, and participants in the criminal group’s activities, as well as to document the entire criminal network operating across several countries,” the PCOCCS statement reads.
