The prosecutor general’s office of Georgia on Wednesday said it had solved a transnational crime involving fraudulent call centre services together with law enforcement agencies of seven partner countries.
As part of the effort, German and Georgian law enforcement agencies carried out investigative activities in dozens of locations on the territory of Georgia, the office said, with about 60 German and 300 Georgian law enforcement professionals involved in the “large-scale operation” following several months of joint preparation.
Five fraudulent call centre operations, dozens of involved individuals, as well as their apartments, cars and workplaces were searched in the effort, with hundreds of electronic information carriers, documents and a “large amount” of money seized as a result, the state body announced.
Property obtained by the fraudulent operations through criminal means, and funds placed by them in their bank accounts, were also confiscated, while one of the organisers of the group was arrested.
Activities of the group involved establishment of companies in different countries, including in Georgia, before they arranged the fraudulent call centre services and appropriated “millions of euros” belonging to citizens of EU member states, including Germany, the office said.
Members of the criminal group created electronic trading platforms under different brand names, which ensured placement of fraudulently obtained funds from customers to the bank accounts of the fictitious enterprises.
The latest effort comes after Georgian law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with their German counterparts, in October 2021 arrested seven members of an international criminal group in Georgia which fraudulently embezzled “millions of euros” from German citizens and laundered the illegal income.
The arrests came after a group of Georgian and Israeli citizens established six limited liability companies and organised a fraudulent call centre service starting in 2015 to target citizens of various European countries.