EUROPOL has announced a major achievement in the online fraud fight after a two-year operation led to 10 arrests at suspected Albanian scam call centres. The network behind the call centres is described as running a highly professionalized investment fraud operation, estimated to have cost victims at least €50m ($58m). Police also seized nearly €900,000 in cash, 443 computers, 238 mobile phones, six laptops and multiple data storage devices during searches of three call centres and nine private homes in Albania.
The operation began in June 2023, with Austrian law enforcement first flagging a large number of Vienna-based victims, and in April 2024 they requested Albanian authorities hand over an IP address suspected of being used by the perpetrators. Victims were drawn in by misleading ads on social media and search engines, and were assigned a retention agent who impersonated an investment advisor to persuade them to invest more. According to Europol, the criminals sometimes gained full remote control over victims’ machines using remote access software.