According to Ukraine’s cyber police unit, which collaborated with Czech Republic law enforcement on the bust, the threat group created more than 100 phishing sites to acquire victims’ bank credentials and access to their accounts.
These websites provided a range of products for sale at discounts from market value. But, instead of obtaining a good price when customers entered their bank card information to pay for the fraudulent products, they had their account information stolen and probably had all of their money stolen from them.
Additionally, the scammers established two Ukrainian call centers, in Vinnytsia and Lviv, and employed operators to persuade clients to make purchases as part of the scam. Too bad they were not assisting to defend their country instead of taking advantage of people. As per the police report, the victims include individuals from several European countries like the Czech Republic, France, Spain, and Portugal. The threat group scammed the victims of 160 million hryvnias or more, i.e. nearly $4.36 million.
Following the event of the arrest, the Ukrainian police also shared a video where the police officers were seen busting down doors of a suspect’s residence and an empty call center.
The law enforcement teams searched the houses, cars, and two call centers of the accused in a total of around 30 searches, seizing mobile phones, SIM cards, and computer hardware involved in illicit activity.
The two suspected heads of the crime gang are facing up to 12 years in prison on charges of fraud and establishing a criminal organization. The European Union has captured ten more accused gang members, and according to international law enforcement organizations, the investigation is still underway.
The aforementioned arrest is followed by another call center scan in Europe, that was announced by Europol in January this year. In the case, the European police detained 15 suspects and closed down a multi-country channel of call centers selling fabricated cryptocurrency that the law enforcement claimed to have stolen more than hundreds of million euros from victims.
