Ministry of Internal Affairs arrests four, charges eight for fraud in so-called 'call-centre' case
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, October 3, 2022
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the employees of the cybercrime division of the Central Criminal Police Department's main division for fighting organized crime, as a result of operative-investigative actions arrested four people, eight people were charged with fraud against internet users of foreign countries.
"The investigation established that the accused I.V. registered a company in Georgia, whose employees used to send pop-up messages to citizens of foreign countries, mainly French, in their internet browsers, where it was written categorically, in French, that their computer was infected and to correct the errors You should call the indicated number. The message did not have a shutdown feature and users were unable to use the computer. Customers who believed their computers had a serious problem called the number listed in the message, which was used by the aforementioned company.At the first stage, the employees of the company's call center, who were known by French names, talked to them even more about the seriousness of the problem and promised to solve it. Customers who believed paid a certain fee using various online payment systems with which 'IV' had established a connection, after which the above company's so-called IT staff used remote access software to log into the victim's computer devices and disable the pop-up, as well as installing certain software so that the victim could create the illusion that he received a service from the company corresponding to the amount he paid," read the information released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the agency, the investigation established that the victims of the illegal actions of the organized criminal group suffered a total of more than 767,000 euros of material damage.
The investigation into the fact of unauthorized access to the computer system, fraud committed by an organized group and legalization of illegal income is being conducted under Articles 284, 180 and 194 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. The crime is punishable by seven to 12 years in prison.
