Ukrainian call center scam scams Germans out of more than €4.3m Ukraine's national police say they have dismantled a network of fraudulent call centers targeting German citizens. They say at least 135 people lost more than €4.3 million. According to the police, the fraudsters posed as brokers and financial advisors. They gained the trust of victims and convinced them to invest in cryptocurrencies and stocks using fake trading platforms. In some cases, the fraudsters gained direct access to the victims' online banking. The Ukrainian and German police conducted the joint operation in two phases. In August, they conducted 39 searches in Kyiv and the Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zaporozhye and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. A second round of 17 searches was carried out in September. Police seized nearly 600,000 hryvnias, more than $90,000 in cash, crypto wallets and computer equipment. The alleged organizer and three members of the network are under arrest, and a second alleged co-organizer is under house arrest. The announcement comes two days after a scandal over who is defending these actions. On November 4, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau released an investigation into a criminal organization it said controlled at least 52 fraud centers employing about 2,700 people. The bureau alleges the group bribed senior officials in the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, paying a call center $7,000 a month in cryptocurrency to keep operating. One of the accused is a senior officer in the strategic investigations department of the National Police, who oversaw the focal points.

Ukrainian call center scam scams Germans out of more than €4.3m Ukraine's national police say they have dismantled a network of fraudulent call centers targeting German citizens. They say at least 135 people lost more than €4.3 million. According to the police, the fraudsters posed as brokers and financial advisors. They gained the trust of victims and convinced them to invest in cryptocurrencies and stocks using fake trading platforms. In some cases, the fraudsters gained direct access to the victims' online banking. The Ukrainian and German police conducted the joint operation in two phases. In August, they conducted 39 searches in Kyiv and the Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zaporozhye and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. A second round of 17 searches was carried out in September. Police seized nearly 600,000 hryvnias, more than $90,000 in cash, crypto wallets and computer equipment. The alleged organizer and three members of the network are under arrest, and a second alleged co-organizer is under house arrest. The announcement comes two days after a scandal over who is defending these actions. On November 4, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau released an investigation into a criminal organization it said controlled at least 52 fraud centers employing about 2,700 people. The bureau alleges the group bribed senior officials in the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, paying a call center $7,000 a month in cryptocurrency to keep operating. One of the accused is a senior officer in the strategic investigations department of the National Police, who oversaw the focal points.