Russian Police Arrest 300 in Raid on ‘International Crypto Call Center Scammers’

Russian police have arrested at least 300 people in raids on a suspected international call center crypto scam ring based in Moscow.

In a Telegram post, the Ministry of Internal Affairs spokeswoman Irina Volk said the ministry and the Federal Security Service “detained employees” of “a network of fraudulent call centers.”

Moscow Raids: Russian Police Arrest 300

Volk said the arrestees contacted “foreigners” to convince them to “invest their savings in cryptocurrency.”

She claimed the call center staffers were also trying to convince people based overseas to visit bogus “trading platforms.”

Source: Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

“At the time of the raids, over 300 people were working in the call centers.”

Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs spokeswoman Irina Volk

Officers also claimed that some of the “stolen funds” were “used to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

The suspected call center employees are likely to face charges under Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code, which refers to “fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale.”

A poster in one of the Moscow-based call centers. (Source: Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs)

Courts have the power to jail anyone convicted of this crime for a maximum of 10 years.

Volk added that according to the police’s “preliminary investigations,” the ring operated “several call centers in Moscow,” where they had equipped around 500 workstations.

“Employees from these centers persuaded citizens from other countries to invest their funds in cryptocurrency and various trading platforms. After the victims transferred their money, the fraudsters cut off all contact with them.”

Volk

Media outlets claimed that many of the people in the videos appeared to be foreign nationals.

Source: Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Volk, meanwhile, added that the ring used sophisticated methods to confuse investigators and mask their operations.

She claimed that the ring had launched a “recruiting network” to hire a multilingual group of staff members.

Victims Based ‘All Over the World

Security service officers said the group had “deceived tens of thousands of citizens from more than 20 countries.”

They also said the group was linked to “an international fraud network controlled by Yegor Burkin,” the “at-large leader of the Khimprom organized crime group.”

Police think the Khimprom group is a major drug smuggling network that operates both in Russia and Ukraine.

The ministry released video from their raids showing officers seemingly about to arrest a large number of people.

The video also showed rows of workstations equipped with headsets, monitors, and PCs.

Source: Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Call Center Fraudsters ‘Getting More Sophisticated’

The ministry has warned about a sharp rise in telephone fraud cases, many of which are now crypto-themed.

Officials say that many callers pose as Ministry of Internal Affairs employees or Federal Security Service officers.

They have warned that scammers also have access to technology that generates “spoof numbers” that look like the telephone numbers of “official agencies.”

The Interior Ministry added that the fraudsters have also begun using “professional terminology” to cultivate a veneer of authenticity.

Scammers also “make video calls” where they don authentic-looking uniforms and show off “fake IDs and copies of official documents.”

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