Under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, a large-scale international special operation "Connect" was conducted in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Latvia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic.

As a result of coordinated actions, a sprawling network of fraudulent call centers operating in Ukraine and systematically deceiving citizens of the European Union was dismantled.

The criminal network recruited its employees from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and other countries, bringing them to its call centers in Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kyiv to extort money from victims in these and other European countries.

This is another stage in the systematic cleanup of the fraud market, which Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are conducting together with EU partners to eliminate transnational schemes of telephone and financial deception.

The organizers created a high-tech infrastructure for mass calls, number spoofing, and manipulative communication scenarios ("vishing," "spoofing").

Fraudsters used various schemes, for example, posing as police officers, informing victims that their bank accounts had been hacked, and convincing them to transfer large sums of money from their "compromised" bank accounts to "safe" bank accounts controlled by the network or into cryptocurrency. They also imposed the downloading of remote access software and the entry of their banking details, allowing the criminal group to access and control the victims' bank accounts.

During the special operation in Kyiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, over 70 searches were conducted at the workplaces of call centers, in the residences of suspects, and in their vehicles.

As a result of investigative actions:

11 participants were notified of suspicion under Part 1, Part 2 of Article 255, Part 4 and Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;

6 foreign citizens wanted by competent authorities of EU countries were detained for extradition.

A significant amount of computer and server equipment, over 200 units, mobile phones, electronic media, documentation, as well as premium-class vehicles used by participants in criminal activities were seized.

During the pre-trial investigation, at least 50 episodes of the fraudsters' criminal activities were documented, causing damages of over 50 million UAH to 47 citizens of European Union countries.

The special operation "Connect" was conducted within the framework of the joint investigative group and international legal assistance agreements.
The successful exposure of the network was made possible by:

operational information exchange between Ukrainian and European law enforcement;

coordination of actions by prosecutors and investigators from several states;

involvement of international institutions supporting the fight against transnational fraud.

Currently, the pre-trial investigation is ongoing. The analysis of electronic evidence, the establishment of additional episodes, and all those involved in the network's activities are continuing.

It should be noted that this is not the first case of exposing international call centers, and each such operation is part of a systematic strategy.

In just the last few months, prosecutors together with law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and international partners have shut down 277 such platforms in Kyiv, Dnipro, as well as in Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Lviv, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, and Odesa regions.

The Office of the Prosecutor General urges citizens to be vigilant: never share card details, CVV codes, passwords, and one-time codes with strangers. More information about the Office's work and how to protect your data can be viewed in a video on the YouTube channel.

Ukraine, together with its EU partners, is proving effective in combating criminal networks that operate simultaneously in several countries and cause harm to European citizens.