Ukrainian law enforcement officers, together with the Czech police, have uncovered one of the largest fraud schemes operating under the guise of legal call centers. Hundreds of people were defrauded, millions in losses were incurred, and an entire “corporation” of scammers existed within the country for years, pretending to be a professional service company.
As reported by Deputy Head of the National Police Andriy Nebytov, the key figure is a 32-year-old resident of Dnipro. It was he who organized a full-fledged criminal structure that operated according to all the rules of “business”: the staff included operators, accountants, security guards, lawyers, and even polygraph examiners.
“ They worked professionally, defiantly, cynically. But there are no ideal schemes. And their time has come ,” Nebytov noted.
Employees of pseudo-call centers called people, presented themselves as bank employees, and used psychological manipulation to lure them into accessing accounts or giving out personal information. Everything looked convincing: conversation scenarios, scripts, “support service” — everything was created so that the victim would have no doubts.
The operation covered Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Poltava, and Zaporizhia regions, where dozens of searches were conducted. Investigators found that the fraudsters were operating not only in Ukraine, but also closely cooperating with citizens of the Czech Republic.
Six Czech citizens have already been exposed in the case, some of whom have been extradited to the Czech Republic, where they are awaiting trial. This confirms the international nature of the scheme: calls were made from Ukraine, and the supporting infrastructure and some of the participants worked abroad.
The main organizer and one of the key executors have already been notified of suspicion under articles on the creation of a criminal organization and fraud on a particularly large scale.
Law enforcement officials do not rule out that the network could be larger than expected, and do not rule out new arrests in the case. The amount of stolen funds may reach tens of millions of hryvnias.
“This operation is not just successful. It is an example of how a team works, how international partnership gives real results. And how no one will hide behind borders if they decide to live off someone else's misfortune,” Andriy Nebytov emphasized.
The investigation is ongoing. Law enforcement officers are examining the organizers' connections with other countries and companies that may have provided services for fraudulent activities.
