In the Lviv region, a network of fraudulent call centres has been exposed, whose activities were aimed at misappropriating citizens’ funds, including those of residents of European Union countries, through deception using information and telecommunication technologies. Procedural supervision in the criminal proceedings is being carried out by the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
As part of the investigation, 23 urgent searches were conducted at the homes and in the vehicles of 15 alleged organisers and participants in this network. According to the investigation, the so-called ‘companies’ used at least eight different schemes to extract money, in particular by telephoning people and posing as employees of banks’ security services and other financial institutions.
During the investigative actions carried out by the Main Department of the National Police in the Lviv region together with the Security Service of Ukraine Office in the Lviv region, cash was discovered and seized in a total amount equivalent to almost 2 million US dollars, 11 premium cars of the Audi, Porsche and Lexus brands, two BMW motorbikes, 39 mobile phones (mainly the latest iPhone models), 17 items of computer equipment and tablets, including MacBook, iPad and Asus devices, as well as system units, hard drives and flash drives.
Bank cards, rough accounting records detailing the distribution of income, luxury Rolex, Cartier, Rado and Certina wristwatches, jewellery, as well as devices for smoking and grinding cannabis were also seized.
Information about the incident has been entered in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations on the grounds of fraud on an especially large scale or committed by an organised group, as well as legalisation of property obtained by criminal means, committed by an organised group or on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 190, Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, and a decision is being taken on serving notices of suspicion to the alleged organisers of the call centres.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt has been proved in the manner prescribed by law and established by a guilty verdict of a court.