Authorities have reported the arrest of 108 people accused of being involved in an international call center operation that lured victims into investing in fraudulent schemes. The operations were carried out in coordination with law enforcement from Lithuania and Latvia on March 24-25, 2022.
Europol stated that the team of scammers or “traders” who spoke English, Russian, Polish, and Hindi were attempting to get potential victims to invest in bogus cryptocurrency, commodities, and foreign currencies.
The operation swindled a staggering €3,000,000 a month from the victims, allowing these fraudsters to purchase luxury vehicles, €95,000 in cryptocurrency, and other valuable assets.
Europol has released a video collection of the aforementioned raids:
Numerous fraudulent call center have been operating for many years around the globe. According to a report released in January by the United States Federal Trade Commission, at least 95,000 Americans fell victim to social media fraud in 2021, resulting in a loss of $770,000,000.
A separate research study concentrating on UK consumers estimated a massive financial loss of €426,000,000 in 2020.In a bulletin issued by the FBI last summer, they stress the importance of checking for red flags when a caller offers an investment opportunity.
These red flags include claims of large investment returns with little risk, as well as unique payment methods such as credit cards, wire transfers, and, finally, cryptocurrency.
The numbers that fraudsters are acquiring are so astounding and potentially have such a large impact on society that law enforcement cannot ignore them.
