Interior ministry detains 4, charges 8 with fraud, illicit income legalisation, unauthorised access to computer system
The investigation discovered that the victims of the organised crime group had suffered financial damage of more than €767,000. Photo: Ministry of internal affairs/Facebook
Tweet 
Share
The employees of the cybercrime division of the Georgian interior ministry have arrested four and charged eight individuals with fraud, legalisation of illicit income and unauthorised access to the computer system, the ministry announced on Sunday.
As the investigation established, the organised crime group had fraudulently embezzled money from the citizens of France and other countries through a fraudulent “call centre” service.
The employees of the fraudulent company, registered in Georgia, had been sending “pop up” messages to foreign citizens informing them that their computers had been infected with a virus, while providing a call service number to resolve the problem.
The company’s so-called IT staff used remote access software to log into the victim's computer devices and disable pop-ups in exchange for money, as well as install some software to make the victim think they were getting the service they paid for from the company.
The investigation discovered that the victims of the organised crime group had suffered financial damage of more than €767,000.
The crimes are punishable by imprisonment from seven up to 12 years.