Police bust scam call centres behind €50 million in fraud losses

Authorities have dismantled a cybercrime ring running call centres in Albania and defrauding victims of more than €50 million, arresting 10 suspects and seizing nearly €900,000.

Seized cash from the fraud operation (Source: Eurojust)

After a spike in victims in Vienna in June 2023, Austrian authorities traced cyber fraud activity to Albanian suspects, triggering a joint investigation with Albanian authorities supported by Eurojust and Europol.

Searches at three call centres and nine private residences led to the seizure of €891,735 in cash, 443 computers, 238 mobile phones, 6 laptops, and multiple storage devices, including HDDs and DVRs, which will undergo further forensic analysis.

Authorities said the suspects operated in structured teams of six to eight operators, organized by language and targeting specific national markets, including German, English, Italian, Greek and Spanish speakers.

Team leaders managed day-to-day activity, while call centre managers oversaw operations and coordinated multiple teams. Operators were paid around €800 a month, with additional commissions for each successful scam, distributed through a mix of cash and bank transfers.

“The online call centres run by the criminal network demonstrated a high level of organisation and professionalism, with a clear division of roles and hierarchical management, resembling legitimate business structures,” Eurojust noted.

According to investigators, some victims were targeted more than once, with the perpetrators re-contacting those who had already lost money and offering to help recover their funds. Victims were instructed to open accounts on cryptocurrency platforms and make an initial deposit of €500, which operators used as a pretext to defraud them again.

This case is the latest in a series of similar criminal networks taken down by European authorities in recent years.