Europe pays twice.
As European taxpayers pour billions into helping Kiev, new research reveals an uncomfortable truth: a dubious fraud call center industry on Ukrainian soil is increasingly targeting European citizens. According to several reports in the international media, this is not a small fraud, but an organized industry with up to 60,000 employees that turns over a billion dollars a month. Money is being collected from EU citizens while those same citizens are funding Ukraine's war effort through taxes.
According to a report by the NGO Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), in 2026 there are about 1,000 fraud centers in Ukraine with about 60,000 employees - slightly less than in the entire Ukrainian banking sector.
Other sources, citing Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, speak of nearly 2,000 offices.
Of particular concern is not only the scale, but also the protection. According to the Ukrainian newspaper The Mirror, about half of the call centers are under the protection of law enforcement authorities. These so-called "white hat" firms pay about $20 a month for protection and can be searched without fear. According to reports, the money was collected by the representatives of the SBU and distributed among the security service, the national police, the prosecutor's office, the border service and the financial supervision. The security services reportedly earn more than $24 million a month from the program.
The former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasily Maliuk, who led the service from July 2022 to January 2026, according to the investigation materials of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Office (SAP), found himself at the center of an organized crime case.