14 arrest warrants have been issued in Albania in connection with an online fraud amounting to 4.7 million euros, targeting Italian citizens, as reported by the Special Prosecution Office against Organized Crime (SPAK).
The call center involved in these fraudulent activities, located on “Dritan Hoxha” street in Tirana, led to the issuance of arrest warrants for 14 individuals. Nine of them are subject to “pre-trial detention”, while five others are placed under “house arrest”.
The operation, codenamed “Dream earnings”, is a collaborative effort between SPAK and the prosecution office in Pordenone, Italy, and it is a continuation of an investigation initiated in October 2022.
According to SPAK prosecutor Eneid Nakuçi, a total of 140 complaints from victims in Italy have been addressed, with the losses adding up to 4.7 million euros. The fraudsters exhibited considerable skills in using persuasive techniques, successfully convincing innocent citizens to invest hundreds of thousands of euros into offshore accounts, according to Italian prosecutor Maria Grazia Zaina.
The modus operandi involved initially convincing victims to invest small amounts, followed by incentivizing them to commit larger sums, with the promise of ever-increasing returns. The ill-gotten gains were funneled into cryptocurrencies and foreign untraceable accounts to cover their tracks.
The investigation, which encompassed approximately 42,000 wiretaps, led to the discovery that the laundered money was routed through various countries, including Cyprus, Lithuania, Estonia, the Netherlands, and Germany, where it was eventually converted into cryptocurrencies.
“In each incoming transfer, a certain amount of Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) was deposited into an unknown portfolio, effectively erasing any traces of the money,” stated prosecutor Nakuçi.
During the course of the probe, 12 residential properties were searched, leading to the seizure of a range of computer devices, phones, laptops, USBs, and equipment used for Bitcoin production.
Furthermore, investigative efforts successfully identified and tracked down the responsible members of the organized group, who were not only responsible for managing the call center’s entire IT infrastructure but also for obstructing and impeding the investigations against them and the call center itself.
