Latvian and Lithuanian Authorities Detain 108 People over Call Center Scam

Latvian State Police (Valsts policija) and the Lithuanian Police (Lietuvos Policija) have recently busted a multi-million-euro financial broker call center scam. According to the details provided by Europol, 108 people have been detained for their links with the mentioned fraudulent activities.

The recent operation was carried out by hundreds of Police officers from Latvia and Lithuania. On 24 and 25 March, officers raided a total of 3 call centers linked to the same criminal group. The group has allegedly scammed thousands of investors across the world through fake investment schemes.

The people involved in the scheme offered high returns to investors. According to Europol, the fraudsters have made a profit of more than 3 million euros per month through several fake FX, commodities and crypto investment schemes.

“Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre supported the investigation from the onset by bringing together the national investigators from Latvia and Lithuania to establish a joint strategy and to organize the intensive exchange of evidence needed to prepare for the final phase of the investigation. Europol experts from both its European Financial and Economic Crime Centre and European Cybercrime Centre were deployed to Latvia and Lithuania to assist the national authorities with the action days,” Europol mentioned in an official announcement.

In addition to Europol, Eurojust supported the investigations through comprehensive coordination.

Detention

The authorities detained 80 people in Latvia and 28 people in Lithuania. Financial assets of the detained people including cash, bank accounts and luxury vehicles were seized by the authorities in the recent crackdown. Moreover, nearly 95,000 euros worth of cryptocurrency assets were seized during the operation.

“In the latest operation, further assistance was given with the execution of a European Investigation Order during the action day,” Europol added.

Investigations into criminal proceedings are ongoing.