FSB Thwarts Work of Call Center Network that Deceived 100,000 Residents of 50 Countries
According to the agency, the call centers were part of an international organized criminal network that carried out mass fraud against citizens of the EU, the UK, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan and other countries under the guise of investment transactions
Russia’s Federal Security Service has thwarted the work of an international network of call centers acting in the interests of former Georgian Defense Minister David Kazerashvili, the agency’s press office told our reporters.
“The Federal Security Service has thwarted the illegal activities of an international network of call centers acting in the interests of former Georgian Defense Minister and founder of the Milton Group David Kazerashvili, who is currently hiding in London,” the FSB said.
According to the agency, the call centers were part of an international organized criminal network that carried out mass fraud against citizens of the EU, the UK, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan and other countries under the guise of investment transactions. “The victims of their illegal activities were about 100,000 people living in the territories of more than 50 countries. The income from illegal activities reached one million dollars a day,” the press office said.
The FSB also said that the heads of the call centers functioning on the territory of Russia have been identified. They are citizen of Israel and Ukraine Keselman (detained) and citizen of Israel and Georgia Todva (declared wanted). According to the agency, in 2022, acting on the instructions of Ukraine’s Security Service, they “organized the dissemination of anonymous messages about imminent terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in Moscow, Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod.”
Law enforcement agencies told TASS earlier that Moscow’s Lefortovo court arrested Kazerashvili in absentia in a fraud case. He is wanted in Russia.
A total of 11 managers and employees of Russian call center offices were detained. Investigators have opened a criminal case under Article 210 of the Russian Criminal Code (“Organization of a Criminal Network”), Article 159 (“Large-scale Fraud”), Article 207 (“Knowingly False Reporting of a Terrorist Act”). Investigative actions are continuing, the FSB pointed out.
