call centre
“A man arrived on behalf of a key figure in the NABU ‘Carthage’ operation, the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration [Oleg] Kiper, General Alexander Dorovsky and someone from the Office of the Prosecutor General. It was an urgent, one-day mission,” reported a well-known investigator.
Yesterday, Ukrainian media reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced the dismantling of a criminal organisation which, according to the investigation, was headed by one of the leaders of the Office of the Prosecutor General. Those involved in the scheme allegedly received bribes from fraudulent call centres and laundered the illegally obtained funds.
Independent anti-corruption bodies have dubbed the investigation ‘Operation Carthage’. Over the weekend, a video appeared on their social media channels featuring recordings of intercepted conversations between members of the group and CCTV footage.
According to law enforcement agencies, in mid-2025, an official from the Office of the Prosecutor General set up a group that acted as a front for and received funds from call centres. It is reported that staff at these centres called residents of Ukraine and European countries (including Moldova) and used fraudulent schemes to swindle money from them.
According to NABU officials, a senior official from the Office of the Prosecutor General, known by the alias ‘Chancellor’, played a key role in the criminal organisation, operating under the patronage of a certain ‘Boss’.
Which officials might be involved?
Officially, the agencies have not named the suspects; however, on Sunday, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court remanded Serhiy Krapiva, head of the Department of International Cooperation at the Office of the Prosecutor General, into custody. He may be released if he posts bail of 120 million hryvnias (around 2.7 million dollars).
Journalists from the publication *Ukrainska Pravda* also report that, according to their sources, it is Krapiva who is the main figure in the investigation.
According to media reports, the pseudonym ‘The Boss’ may refer to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
What does Moldova have to do with this?
In the first six months of 2026, telephone and online fraudsters swindled more than 160 million lei from Moldovan residents.
This is more than twice as much as in the whole of 2025 (around 70 million lei) and 2024 (41 million lei).
Moreover, a sharp rise in the number of calls was recorded in the spring, when the police were logging up to 50–60 cases of fraud a day. By the end of the summer, the frequency had decreased, but large sums continue to be swindled out of people on a regular basis (for example, in just a few days in September, citizens lost a further 1.7 million lei).
In mid-August, the Ukrainian National Police carried out more than 400 raids and shut down 94 call centres which, according to law enforcement officials, were involved in fraudulent schemes. However, one must not overlook the call centres opened by Ukrainian entrepreneurs in Moldova – they too may have been involved in fraudulent schemes.
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