Five suspected members of a scam call center operation that allegedly defrauded citizens throughout Europe have been arrested in Georgia, the Georgian prosecutor’s office said Feb. 18.
Five suspected members of a scam call center operation that allegedly defrauded citizens throughout Europe have been arrested in Georgia. (Photo: Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke, Pixabay, License)The suspects are accused of selling fake financial products, including bogus cryptocurrency investments.
“They contacted citizens of Germany and other countries, provided them with fictitious names and false information about their company location to trade in securities, stocks, commodities, currencies and cryptocurrencies using electronic platforms,” the prosecutors said.
These arrests come roughly four months after Georgian and German authorities arrested seven other suspected members of another network of call centers that also employed foreign language experts as “operators.” That group is accused of fraudulently misappropriating 9.5 million euro (US$10.35 million), US$720,000, and 220,000 British pounds ($288,225).
Those arrested face charges such as fraud and money laundering, which can result in prison sentences of between nine to twelve years.
Prosecutors say that the call centers were operated by citizens of Georgia and Israel, a modus operandi similar to that allegedly used by David Todua, a Georgian-born Israeli citizen at the center of OCCRP’s “Fraud Factory”…
