Several European police forces have put an end to an online scam network that operated from Bulgaria that cost German investors millions of euros, Europol said on Monday (October 11th).
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Searches carried out in several countries on Wednesday led to the closure of two illegal call centers in Sofia and the arrest of at least one "
high-value target
" in Cyprus, European police agency Europol said, based in The Hague.
"
Operating between May 2019 and September 2021, the criminal network has encouraged German investors to carry out transactions with a total value of at least 15 million euros,
" she added in a statement.
Encourage clients to invest "large sums of money"
The network used more than 250 domain names online to advertise bogus financial services.
About 100 call center employees attracted investors with the help of pre-written scripts.
“
The initial profits displayed in the user interface encouraged customers to invest large sums of money,
” Europol said.
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"
However, clients did not receive payment of their earnings or a credit balance once they requested it,
" added the agency, which coordinated police operations alongside the European unit of Eurojust judicial cooperation.
Most call center workers did not know they were involved in fraud, according to the survey.
Earlier this year, European police arrested 11 people for a similar scam that allowed them to steal some € 30 million.
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