Law enforcers detained twelve members of an organized criminal group, including two Ukrainians, on the territory of Moldova, the press service of the National Police of Ukraine has said.

"Around 400 employees worked for the fraudulent call centers. According to the developed fraudulent scheme, which had operated since 2021, the swindlers through ads on the Internet offered victims, mainly citizens of Romania, to make investments with the promise of safe and quick earnings," it said on Tuesday.

Within the framework of international cooperation case officers of the Strategic Investigations Department, investigators of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office in cooperation with Europol, Eurojust and law enforcement agencies of Moldova and Romania liquidated the activities of the criminal group, whose members specialized in swindling money from gullible citizens through call centers.

The large-scale international fraudulent scheme involved citizens of Ukraine, who together with representatives of other states organized the work of four call centers in several Moldovan cities.

"The criminals acted according to the following scheme: the dealers created advertisements on Internet sites, where they offered citizens the opportunity to earn safely, quickly, and most importantly, get high income after making small investments. Celebrities or official logos of large local banks depicted in the advertisements inspired trust in potential victims, which allowed the defendants to deceive many people. The advertisement contained a link to a website, after clicking on which potential clients were offered to quickly earn income. In the registration form, 'investors' indicated personal data, and then directly on the specified site they created their own account for investing in non-existent financial products," the police reported.

The gullible citizens were supposed to receive super profits immediately after "investing" 250 U.S. dollars or euros in shares or virtual currencies, which they made through online trading platforms. Using a software interface, the dealers simulated additional accruals and a profit increase hundreds of times. Call center employees also contacted potential victims under the guise of financial consultants, experts, or insurance brokers, assuring them of the reliability of the advertising scheme.

The next step was for the scammers to offer the victims mobile applications on their phones, which allowed the members of the criminal group to access the victims' bank accounts and transfer money from them. The fraudsters acted in the same way with the victims' accounts opened on virtual currency platforms.

If the victims refused to continue investing, the criminals resorted to various kinds of threats. Call center operators aged 20 to 45 years old underwent a multi-stage rigorous selection process, which even included a polygraph test, in order to be allowed to work with citizens. Also, a mandatory condition for employment was a perfect knowledge of foreign languages.

Several members of the organized group acted as supervisors, team leaders, and administrators, carefully monitoring the work of the call center operators. On Wednesday, August 7, law enforcement officers from Ukraine, Moldova and Romania simultaneously conducted a special operation to eliminate a fraudulent scheme. About 70 searches were conducted in call centers and office buildings, as well as in the residences and cars of the defendants in several countries, including nine of them in Ukraine.

As a result of the measures taken, police officers seized more than 100 computers, system units, dozens of telephones, bank cards, firearms, ten cars, and about $35,000. In Kyiv, Ukrainian law enforcement officers seized computer equipment, communication equipment, and more than UAH 2.4 million.

Currently, the scheme is being investigated in 120 criminal cases in Romania based on 150 statements from defrauded individuals. It was established that, according to the fraudulent scheme, the perpetrators defrauded the victims of EUR 1.2 million.

The collection of evidence is ongoing to establish the full circle of persons involved in the crime and bring them to criminal responsibility. According to Moldovan law, the detained persons face eight to 15 years behind bars. The investigation is ongoing.