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The fraud scheme of call centers in Albania is broken down: They earned 400 euros per minute

2022-11-14 22:07:54Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The fraud scheme of call centers in Albania is broken down: They earned 400
The fraud scheme of call centers in Albania is broken down

Mossos d'Esquadra and Guardia Civil agents have carried out six checks in call centers located in Elbasan, Tirana and Vlora, which have been followed by two arrests and 16 investigations.

According to local authorities, the number of scammers in Spain may exceed 17,000 and that the call centers were earning 400 euros per minute. It is believed that they have earned around 2.4 billion euros from carrying out their activity.

The Garda Civile and the Mossos d'Esquadra have made two arrests in Albania, as part of a wide-ranging operation carried out on November 8 and 9 to dismantle a transnational criminal organization that defrauded its victims through alleged cryptocurrency investments.

Start of operation

The launch of the investigation dates back to 2018, when the first complaints were received from the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Civil Guard. In the first, an elderly woman reported that more than 800,000 euros had been stolen from her, explaining in her complaint that the fraud had occurred from a phone call in which a "financial expert" proposed to her to make investments.

In principle, the woman only had to transfer 250 euros, but the huge profits that the scammers claimed to receive meant that she ended up investing significant amounts of money. At that time, the criminal organization installed a program on the victim's computer to control all his financial movements, causing him to lose the savings he had in his bank accounts.

The fake agents contacted victims from call centers located in Albania, manipulating potential investors with persuasive techniques and offering huge profits on small investments. In fact they tricked them into making investments in internet platforms controlled by criminal organizations.

The initial investments were 250 euros and soon they informed the victim about supposed huge benefits, so the trust in their broker developed favorably and made them continue to deposit more money on the platform, being able to transfer hundreds of thousands of euros throughout your relationship with your holder. With this false data, the supposed brokers made the investor believe that their profits multiplied exponentially, helping to maintain their interest in the investment.

On the other hand during the process, the fraudster managed to get his victim to authorize the installation of remote access software on his personal computer and thereby provided him with access to banking information and account passwords.

When the investor wanted to withdraw all or part of the profits received, the scammer asked for more money to be able to withdraw the funds with various excuses, such as paying taxes or alleged system failures. In case the victim did not receive more investments, the organization accessed personal banking information and emptied the accounts.

Coordination and promotion of the operation

At the beginning of the investigation, the Mossos d'Esquadra discovered more than a hundred websites controlled by criminal organizations and it was verified that there was a company that was being investigated by the Civil Guard Units, therefore in mid-2019 a Team of Joint Investigation (ECI) between the two bodies.

The fact that there were other European countries investigating this type of fraud led to an international investigation being coordinated by Eurojust, involving units from various police forces across Europe. Notable are the investigative units of the Civil Guard, the Mossos d'Esquadra of the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) and the police of Germany, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Albania, Ukraine and Georgia.

Eurojust established a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in 2020 between all participating countries and for two years has coordinated investigations, execution of international arrest warrants, European investigation warrants and letters rogatory in third countries.

All this was part of a large international network dedicated to defrauding a multitude of European citizens, although victims from other continents could also be identified.

Based on the specialization of the criminal organization, one of its most important branches was located in the call centers located in countries bordering the European Union, such as Albania, Georgia, North Macedonia, Andorra or Ukraine. Frauds were committed from these and the investigators suspected from the beginning that it was the first link in the chain, regarding the flow of money in the organization.

Cybercrime specialists created technological programs to get to the bottom of the plot

The investigation has been very complex given the level of sophistication of the criminal network. They had a computer engineering team responsible for developing the visible part that runs on the Internet, call centers with operators who spoke several languages, companies spread around the world to move assets and a financial group capable of transferring the defrauded money. in tax havens. and income laundering.

To counter this structure and ensure the success of the investigation, an exclusive team of police officers with knowledge in programming and computer science was created, who have developed and generated new tools to detect the movements of the organization and conduct an investigation that would allow them to get to the core of the crime plot.

Operations in Albania on November 8 and 9

On November 8 and 9, the Coordination Center (CECOR) was activated at Eurojust's headquarters in The Hague, from where the development of a device was simultaneously directed by various police forces for their action in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia and North and Ukraine.

The total number of police actions carried out in the reviewed countries led to the dismantling of 15 call centers, the arrest of two senior leaders of the organization in Albania, the identification of 16 people and the intervention of more than 355 computers, mobile phones, tablets and objects of other electronic with relevant information for researchers. During the checks, crypto-currency tools were found in the various cryptocurrencies for a value of 16,000 euros, in addition to 25,000 euros in cash.

In the action carried out in Albania, around 30 police officers of the Civil Guard and Mossos d'Esquadra, in coordination with the Albanian police, proceeded to dismantle six call centers controlled by the investigated criminal organization, from which the fraudsters contacted their victims .

Check that websites are legitimate

In the face of this massive scam of online financial scams, prevention becomes an essential measure to avoid these criminal mafias. To avoid this type of fraud, which can have devastating consequences, investors are recommended to take all security measures when making investments online and check that the websites belong to companies operating legitimately in our country.

In case of receiving unplanned phone calls from unknown persons offering astronomical profits from investments with little money, you should always make sure of the type of company behind it, so that you do not fall into the traps of criminal organizations./ TCH


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