European authorities this month launched a coordinated action against hundreds of suspects accused of running a massive investment fraud network that was exposed by OCCRP in a 2020 investigation, Eurojust and Europol announced.
Ukrainian cyberpolice posted photos online showing one of the call centers they had shut down. (Photo: CyberpoliceUA/Twitter, License)Police and prosecutors from Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine worked together on an “unprecedented” cross-border investigation that culminated in the arrests of five suspects and confiscation of hundreds of thousands of euros’ worth of cash, as well as cryptocurrency wallets, properties, and bank accounts, according to Eurojust.
The joint team, which Eurojust, the EU agency for judicial cooperation, coordinated and funded, raided 15 call centers in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, North Macedonia, and Ukraine on November 8 and 9.
One of these centers was the Kyiv office of a company formerly known as “Milton Group,” which OCCRP and its partner, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, exposed as part of the joint “Fraud Factory” investigation in 2020.
The series showed how a network of criminals in Ukraine, Albania, and Georgia were scamming elderly and vulnerable people around the world, luring them into making fake investments in cryptocurrency and other trendy financial instruments. Some victims lost their entire life savings and became…
