The Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, and the law enforcement agencies of the Republics of Latvia and Lithuania have dismantled a large-scale scheme to defraud EU citizens of their money.

As a result of a joint operation in Dnipro, the leader of the criminal organisation and ten of his accomplices have been detained. They had been scamming foreign nationals by soliciting fraudulent investments in electronic exchanges.

Over the course of a year, the fraudsters received at least USD 1.2 million of illegal income.

They set up four call centres in the city: the operators called EU citizens and offered them to invest money in ‘promising’ crypto projects.

For credibility, the perpetrators showed clients rapid profit growth on an online platform that imitated the work of a cryptocurrency exchange.

The web-site displayed falsified graphs purporting to show increases in asset value and profitability of investments. In reality, this data was fabricated and had nothing to do with actual trading.

At the initial stage, the scammers offered clients to make a symbolic first deposit, after which they were ‘encouraged’ with instant dividends.

In this way, the victim was hooked and transferred increasingly larger amounts to the criminals’ crypto wallets.

As soon as the investment reached its peak, the perpetrators immediately severed all communication with the client and blocked their accounts.

During 40 searches of the suspects’ offices and homes, mobile phones and computer equipment with evidence of the fraud were seized, as well as UAH 21 million, likely obtained by criminal means.

The detainees have been notified of suspicion under three Articles of the CCU, according to the crimes committed:

• 255.1, 255.2 (creation and leadership of a criminal organisation, participation in it);
• 190.4, 190.5 (fraud, committed on a particularly large scale through illegal transactions using electronic computing equipment);
• 209.3 (laundering of property obtained by criminal means, on a particularly large scale).

The suspects are in custody. The investigation is ongoing to bring all participants in the scheme to justice. They face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Office in Dnipropetrovsk region in cooperation with foreign partners under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.