With the support of Europol and Eurojust, the Czech and Ukrainian police have disrupted a prolific phishing gang believed to have defrauded victims across Europe of tens of millions of euros. In Czechia alone, the damage caused by this criminal group is estimated at over €8 million (CZK 195,000,000).
As a result of this investigation, six suspects were already arrested in Ukraine and four in the Czech Republic in April this year. Locations in Czechia (Domazlice, Rokycany and Plzen) and Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk) were searched during the raids, including the homes of the accused, vehicles and call centres.
Mobile phones, SIM cards and computer equipment were seized during the crackdown.
The criminal group operated from call centres located in Ukraine and carried out vishing attacks, mainly targeting Czech victims. The fraudsters asked them to transfer funds from their ‘compromised’ bank accounts to ‘safe’ bank accounts controlled by the criminals.
The suspects used spoofed phone numbers and impersonated bank employees and police officers to gain the trust of their victims.
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