Russian Security Service Busts Ukrainian-Linked Criminal Scam Network
14:12 GMT 09.12.2024 (Updated: 14:13 GMT 09.12.2024)
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Russia has repeatedly warned Western countries that Ukraine's US-backed so-called "IT army" would become a huge problem for Europeans, as more than 1,000 "call centers" in Ukraine are engaged in the extortion of money under fraudulent pretenses.
A sprawling criminal call center network linked to Ukraine has been busted by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
📹 RUSSIA’S FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE CRACKS DOWN ON CRIMINAL CALL CENTER
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 9, 2024
The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced it has uncovered an international call center network operating in Russia on behalf of former Georgian Defense Minister and Milton Group founder Davit… pic.twitter.com/mw7DmDiyXl
Here’s What’s Known So Far:
The global criminal group operated call centers where, under the guise of making investment deals, perpetrators defrauded unwitting victims, according to the FSB statement.
Eleven individuals, including leaders and employees of the network's Russia-based offices, have been detained by security forces.
The network was led by Israeli/Ukrainian citizen Yakov Keselman, who has been detained, and Israeli/Georgian citizen David Todva, who is on the run.
Around 100,000 people across more than 50 countries, including the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, India, and Japan fell victim to the scammers, who raked in close to a million US dollars a day, according to an FSB statement.
The fraudulent scheme “operated in Russia on behalf of former Georgian Defense Minister and Milton Group founder David Kezerashvili, who is currently hiding in London.”
Kezerashvili is wanted on charges of disseminating anonymous messages upon instructions from the Ukrainian Security Service in 2022 about alleged impending attacks in Russia supposedly being planned, per the FSB.
An investigation into the criminal operation is ongoing.
Anglo-Saxon curators of the Kiev regime have sent their special services' cyber units to Ukraine to train their hackers engaged in activities against Russia, Artur Lyukmanov, the director of the Department of International Information Security of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik this January. He said that Ukraine has de facto become a NATO ground for testing methods of fighting Russia in the digital space.
Furthermore, he pointed out that Russia has repeatedly warned Western countries that Ukraine's hackers and telephone fraudsters would pose a problem for Europeans.
"According to our data, there are more than 1,000 'call centers' on the territory of Ukraine engaged in the extortion of money," Lyukmanov said.
