Georgian Prosecutor General's Office initiates proceedings against fraudulent “call centre” scam scheme
The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office highlighted cooperation with Eurojust and German state agencies. Photo: POG
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The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday announced the commencement of legal proceedings against a criminal group associated with a “call centre” scam scheme operating in the country and targeting German citizens with fraud.
Highlighting collaboration with Eurojust and German state agencies, the body stressed it had been “actively engaged” in identifying the fraudulent operations internationally, with the latest efforts involving the initiation of criminal prosecution against three organisers of a transnational organised crime group, a group member, and a legal entity.
The body said the investigation had revealed the group had established a call centre in Georgia before contacting German citizens using fictitious names, providing false information about the location of their company and offering opportunities for digital trading of securities, shares, commodity assets, currencies and cryptocurrencies through electronic platforms created by them.
Operators assured users they could make substantial profits through the trading, however the funds of their victims were “fraudulently obtained”, the Office said.
They then carried out “multiple fictitious transactions” on bank accounts under their control to legalise the funds, with the money included in economic turnover for the purpose of purchasing real estate to “launder tens of millions of lari”, the body added.
Criminal prosecution has been initiated against all five individuals charged with money laundering, with the offence punishable by nine to 12 years of imprisonment. Property worth “several million lari” has also been seized from the group.
The Office said it would ensure confiscation of the illegally obtained property and noted the organisers of the criminal scheme had already been tried by the Regensburg Regional Court of Germany for commercial and group fraud.
In the subsequent stage, the body will also apply to the Tbilisi City Court for imprisonment as a preventive measure for the defendants.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia on Saturday said it “intensively” continued to fight against transnational crime involving fraudulent call centre services, together with law enforcement agencies of European partner countries and under the coordination of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, in order to expose involved individuals and especially organisers of the transnational crimes.
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.
A total of 46 call centres operating in Georgia have suspended their activities while being investigated by the Ministry of Finance for alleged “illegal activities”, Lasha Khutsishvili, the Finance Minister of Georgia, said on Monday.
The Georgian law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with Germany, have arrested seven members of an international criminal group in Georgia which ‘fraudulently embezzled millions of euros from German citizens and laundering of illegal income.’
Georgia has extradited an individual sought under an Interpol Red Notice for particularly grave crimes to the United States, the Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Tuesday.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia arrested seven members of the organised crime group on Saturday as part of the international investigation against transnational crime involving fraudulent call centre services, in cooperation with the law enforcement agency of Switzerland and under the coordination of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, the body said on Sunday.
The Tbilisi City Court sentenced an Albanian national to a three-month extradition detention for his involvement in a “call centre” scam scheme that defrauded German citizens, following a request by the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office.