The police identified 39 suspects, most of whom were successfully arrested.
European law enforcement agencies recently conducted a successful joint operation to close 12 call centers specializing in phone fraud. The operation took place on April 18 with the participation of hundreds of law enforcement officers from Germany, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Lebanon. During the raids, 39 suspects were identified, 21 of whom were successfully detained.
As a result of the operation, documents, cash and other assets worth about 1 million euros were confiscated. They also managed to seize important electronic data, which is expected to help identify other similar call centers and participants in fraudulent schemes.
Europol notes that the detainees used various methods of deception, including fake calls from the police, investment scams and romantic scams. The operation, dubbed "Pandora", began in December 2023 after a bank employee in the city of Freiburg, Germany, noticed suspicious actions of one of the customers.
The investigation revealed that the phone numbers of the detainees appeared in more than 28,000 fraudulent calls in 48 hours. The police also monitored conversations in these call centers in real time, which allowed them to intercept more than 1.3 million conversations and stop about 80% of financial fraud attempts.
As a result of these measures, damage amounting to more than 10 million euros was prevented. Fraudsters posed as close relatives, bank employees, or support services using various manipulative tactics.
Europol also conducted several similar operations last year. We wrote about one of these operations in January, and the other in November, but in fact there were even more such operations.
One of the largest such operations was a police raid conducted in March 2022. Then Europol announced the elimination of a large fraud scheme with investment call centers, where 200 so-called "traders" deceived victims every month in the amount of at least 3 million euros. During the operation, 108 suspects were arrested in Latvia and Lithuania.
European law enforcement agencies recently conducted a successful joint operation to close 12 call centers specializing in phone fraud. The operation took place on April 18 with the participation of hundreds of law enforcement officers from Germany, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Lebanon. During the raids, 39 suspects were identified, 21 of whom were successfully detained.
As a result of the operation, documents, cash and other assets worth about 1 million euros were confiscated. They also managed to seize important electronic data, which is expected to help identify other similar call centers and participants in fraudulent schemes.
Europol notes that the detainees used various methods of deception, including fake calls from the police, investment scams and romantic scams. The operation, dubbed "Pandora", began in December 2023 after a bank employee in the city of Freiburg, Germany, noticed suspicious actions of one of the customers.
The investigation revealed that the phone numbers of the detainees appeared in more than 28,000 fraudulent calls in 48 hours. The police also monitored conversations in these call centers in real time, which allowed them to intercept more than 1.3 million conversations and stop about 80% of financial fraud attempts.
As a result of these measures, damage amounting to more than 10 million euros was prevented. Fraudsters posed as close relatives, bank employees, or support services using various manipulative tactics.
Europol also conducted several similar operations last year. We wrote about one of these operations in January, and the other in November, but in fact there were even more such operations.
One of the largest such operations was a police raid conducted in March 2022. Then Europol announced the elimination of a large fraud scheme with investment call centers, where 200 so-called "traders" deceived victims every month in the amount of at least 3 million euros. During the operation, 108 suspects were arrested in Latvia and Lithuania.
