The fraudsters used various scams, such as posing as police officers to withdraw money using their victims’ cards and details, or pretending that their victims’ bank accounts had been hacked. They convinced their victims to transfer large sums of money from their ‘compromised’ bank accounts to ‘safe’ bank accounts controlled by the network. They also lured victims into downloading remote access software and entering their banking details, enabling the criminal group to access and control the victims’ bank accounts. 

The criminal network recruited their employees from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and other countries and brought them to their call centres in Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv to extort money from victims in these and other European countries. Members of the criminal group had different roles in the organisation, ranging from making calls and forging official certificates from the police and banks to collecting cash from their victims. Investigations showed that around 100 people from different European countries worked in the call centres. 

Employees who successfully obtained money from their victims would receive up to 7% of the proceeds to encourage them to continue the scam. If callers obtained more than EUR 100 000 in proceeds, the criminal leaders promised bonuses such as cash, a new car or an apartment in Kyiv. However, these bonuses were never distributed as the employees never reached this goal. 

A joint investigation team was set up at Eurojust to ensure smooth and efficient cooperation between the authorities. The authorities met at the Agency’s premises in The Hague three times to share information and plan actions to dismantle the call centres in Ukraine. Financial support from Eurojust enabled authorities from the Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania to join the action day in Ukraine and work together with their Ukrainian counterparts.

On 9 December, a total of 72 searches in three cities were carried out in Ukraine. Offices, residences and vehicles were searched where items were seized such as forged police officers and bank employee ID’s, computers, laptops, hard drives and mobile phones and a polygraph machine. Authorities also seized cash, 21 vehicles and various weapons and ammunition. Twelve suspects were arrested during the action day on 9 December. During the entire investigations in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine, 45 people have been identified as suspects.  

The actions were carried out by the following authorities:

• Czech Republic: Municipal Public Prosecutor´s Office Prague; National Counter Terrorism; Extremism and Cyber Crime agency; Criminal Police and Investigation Service
• Latvia: Riga Northern Prosecution Office; Prosecutor General’s Office; Cybercrime Enforcement Department of the Central Criminal Police Department of the State Police of Latvia
• Lithuania: Vilnius Regional Prosecutor's Office; Vilnius County Police Headquarters
• Ukraine: Prosecutor General’s Office; National Police of Ukraine