Security News > 2022 > August > Ukraine takes down cybercrime group hitting crypto fraud victims
The National Police of Ukraine took down a network of call centers used by a cybercrime group focused on financial scams and targeting victims of cryptocurrency scams under the guise of helping them recover their stolen funds.
The fraudsters behind these illegal call centers were also allegedly involved in scamming citizens of Ukraine and European Union countries interested in cryptocurrency, securities, gold, and oil investments.
While claiming to be members of a so-called "Community of cryptocurrency brokers," the attackers also used contact information belonging to previous victims of other cryptocurrency scammers to deceive them that they could help them recover their stolen funds for a "Commission."
In September 2021, the Security Service of Ukraine also took down another network of call centers in Lviv linked to a ring of scammers who defrauded cryptocurrency investors worldwide.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said last year that more than $80 million were lost to cryptocurrency investment scams, according to roughly 7,000 reports received since October 2020.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also alerted cryptocurrency owners of fraudsters actively targeting virtual assets in phone calls by impersonating cryptocurrency exchange or payment platform support staff.