- The cross-border fraud network used call centers to defraud victims.
- The network worked in Germany, Serbia, Cyprus and Bulgaria.
- 15 people have been arrested in connection with the network so far.
After the raid on the Nexo offices in Bulgaria, the European Union’s agency for criminal justice cooperation and Europol arrested 15 people allegedly linked to a cross-border cryptocurrency fraud network. 14 people were arrested in Serbia while the 15th person was arrested in Germany.
However, the Bulgarian authorities said the raid on Nexo’s offices was not linked to the crypto fraud network’s arrests.
The scammers reportedly used call centers from Serbia to defraud international victims and were until their arrest defrauding the victims of tens of millions of euros. The research that led to the arrest of the fraudsters began in 2021 and involved Europol and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
Assets seized in arrests
According to reports, during the arrests, law enforcement agencies seized 150 computers, two luxury apartments, three cars, $1 million in cryptocurrency, and 50,000 euros. Victims of scammers are mainly located in Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Germany and Canada.
But authorities said the arrests are “almost the tip of the iceberg” since they found “large volumes of financial transactions”.
In the announcement of the authority, the group stated:
“It operated call centers from Serbia and used Bulgaria’s technology infrastructure to run the scheme, with Cyprus allegedly being the base for laundering illegal actions.”