Police Dismantle 12 Fraudulent Call Centers Across Four Countries

Last week, as part of Operation Pandora, law enforcement agencies shut down 12 fraudulent call centers located in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Lebanon. These centers were responsible for making thousands of scam calls every day. According to police, the criminals used these call centers to impersonate police officers, run investment scams, and conduct “romance” frauds, collectively stealing over $11 million from victims.

Operation Pandora: How the Investigation Began

The criminals might have defrauded even more people if not for a bank employee in Germany. Operation Pandora began in December 2023, after a customer requested over €100,000 in cash at a bank in Freiburg. The request raised suspicions, and the bank employee suspected the customer had fallen victim to a “police” scam. In this type of scam, familiar to many Russians as well, a criminal pretends to be a law enforcement officer over the phone and pressures the victim to pay a large sum of money. Typically, the scammer claims the victim missed a court hearing (which never actually happened) and now faces arrest unless they pay a hefty fine immediately.

Thanks to the bank employee’s vigilance, the victim contacted the police, who soon tracked down and arrested the scammer. Investigators then examined the victim’s phone and discovered that the phone numbers used by the criminals were linked to more than 28,000 fraudulent calls made in just 48 hours, according to Europol.

Tracking Down the Source of the Calls

German investigators deployed over 100 officers to trace the source of the scam calls and monitor the criminals. As a result, they intercepted more than 1.3 million fraudulent calls. “The scammers posed as close relatives, bank employees, customer service agents, or police officers. Using various tactics, they manipulated, intimidated, and deceived their victims, robbing them of their savings,” Europol reported.

The Baden-Württemberg criminal police even set up their own call center to contact potential victims. Over the next four months, police estimate they saved people more than €10 million, intercepted over 80% of scam calls, and recorded more than 7,500 conversations to obtain search warrants.

Different Countries, Different Scams

By tracing the origin of the calls, law enforcement discovered that each country’s call centers specialized in different types of crimes. Bosnia and Herzegovina focused on debt collection scams, Kosovo was home to banking fraudsters, Albania specialized in investment scams, and Lebanon mainly ran prepaid card fraud schemes.

International Raids and Seizures

On April 18, 2024, police in Germany, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Lebanon conducted dozens of raids on homes and businesses. In addition to shutting down 12 call centers and arresting 21 people, police seized data storage devices, documents, other digital evidence, as well as cash and assets totaling €1 million. Authorities expect this evidence will help identify additional call centers and criminals.