Cyber Crime

Ukraine Police dismantled a transnational fraud group that made €200 million per year

Ukraine’s Cyber ​​Police and Europol arrested 5 Ukrainian citizens who are members of a large-scale transnational fraud group.

Ukraine’s cyber police and Europol arrested five members of a transnational fraud group that caused more than 200 million losses per year.

The arrests are the results of a joint operation conducted with the support of law enforcement officers in Albania, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Latvia and Spain. In these countries the gang established its offices and call centers and employed more than 2,000 people to carry out the criminal activity.

The group defrauded investors through a pseudo-investment scheme in cryptocurrencies and securities, the investigation began in 2020.

The investors were tricked into initiating a series of fake investments. The gang operated its websites and platforms where they offered depositors to receive excess profits from investing in cryptocurrency and trading in securities (stocks, bonds, futures, options). They also simulated asset growth through these platforms, but investors were not able to withdraw their funds.

“According to Europol, hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been affected by the illegal activities of transnational groups. Damages are estimated at more than 200 million euros per year.” reads the announcement published by Ukraine’s cyber police. “Law enforcement officers conducted searches in the homes of those involved, as well as at the addresses of call centers in Kyiv and Ivano-Frankivsk. More than 500 pieces of computer equipment and mobile phones were seized. At the same time, searches were conducted in other countries at the places of residence of the remaining members of the group.”

The police officers conducted searches in the homes of arrested people, as well as at the offices hosting the call centers in Kyiv and Ivano-Frankivsk. 

The police seized more than 500 pieces of computer equipment and mobile phones. Law enforcement in other countries also conducted, searches at the places of residence of the remaining members of the gang. 

“Criminal proceedings have been opened under Part 3 of Art. 190 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides up to eight years of imprisonment.” concludes the announcement.

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, fraud group)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.

Recent Posts

MITRE revealed that nation-state actors breached its systems via Ivanti zero-days

The MITRE Corporation revealed that a nation-state actor compromised its systems in January 2024 by…

10 hours ago

FBI chief says China is preparing to attack US critical infrastructure

China-linked threat actors are preparing cyber attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure warned FBI Director Christopher…

23 hours ago

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) investigates data breach

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has initiated an investigation into an alleged ransomware attack…

1 day ago

FIN7 targeted a large U.S. carmaker with phishing attacks

BlackBerry reported that the financially motivated group FIN7 targeted the IT department of a large…

2 days ago

Law enforcement operation dismantled phishing-as-a-service platform LabHost

An international law enforcement operation led to the disruption of the prominent phishing-as-a-service platform LabHost.…

2 days ago

Previously unknown Kapeka backdoor linked to Russian Sandworm APT

Russia-linked APT Sandworm employed a previously undocumented backdoor called Kapeka in attacks against Eastern Europe since…

2 days ago

This website uses cookies.