At the request of the Spanish, German and Finnish authorities, Eurojust and Europol have supported an action against a massive investment fraud involving the use of cryptocurrencies. The number of victims of this major online fraud is estimated at hundreds of thousands. During operations on 8 and 9 November in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, North Macedonia and Ukraine, 15 call centres were searched and 5 suspects arrested.
The suspects allegedly belong to an organised crime group (OCG) believed to be involved an investment fraud using cryptocurrencies. The criminal network used dozens of call centres in several countries and hundreds of online platforms to commit the fraud.
The suspects presented themselves as brokers who would help the investors earn large amounts of money with small investments. In reality, the OCG deceived the victims by gaining their trust online and by professionally set up call centres or other modes of so-called social engineering. This encouraged victims to invest via web platforms, controlled by the criminal organisation and subsequently losing large sums of money.
The scale of the investigations in such cases is unprecedented so far. Hundreds of thousands of investors all over the world have fallen victims of the fraud since at least 2016, according to the investigations. The damage caused is estimated at EUR 50 million per quarter of a year. Investigations into the cyber scam started in 2018, with currently seven countries having opened judicial cases against the OCG.
Eurojust facilitated judicial cooperation in this case by setting up and funding a joint investigation team (JIT), set up at the request of the Swedish authorities and involving also Albania, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Spain and Ukraine. A total of thirteen coordination meetings were organised to coordinate the national investigations and prepare for the action day. The Agency furthermore facilitated the execution of International Arrest Warrants, European Investigation Orders and Letters of Request to third countries.
Europol provided analytical support to the investigations and organised 7 operational meetings.
To support the action day on 8 and 9 November 2022, Eurojust set up a coordination centre to enable rapid cooperation between the involved judicial authorities.
As a result, 15 call centres were searched (6 in Albania, 5 in Georgia, 3 in Ukraine and 1 in North Macedonia), as well as 27 other places and 5 vehicles. 5 suspects have been arrested, 4 in Albania and 1 in Georgia. Around 50 hearings (suspects and witnesses) have been conducted. Seizures include over 500 electronic devices (computers, laptops, usb, hard discs) , more than EUR 340 000 in cash, several mobile phones, several bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, properties, ID documents and bank cards and hundreds of other documents.
Potential investors are advised to be extra vigilant when doing online investments and check if websites belong to legitimately operating enterprises.
The following authorities took part in this investigation (also indicated is the number of officials who participated in the Action Days):
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