Security News > 2023 > January > European police takes down call centers behind cryptocurrency scams
Multiple call centers across Europe controlled by a criminal organization involved in online investment fraud were taken down this week following a cross-border investigation started in June 2022.
Law enforcement from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, and Serbia found that suspects operating out of these call centers tricked victims into investing large amounts of money in fake cryptocurrency schemes, also known as 'Pig Butchering' cryptocurrency scams.
"The suspects used advertisements on social networks to lure victims to websites covertly operated by the criminals, which offered seemingly exceptional investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies," Europol announced on Thursday.
Europol said that, on January 11, law enforcement arrested 15 suspects in Germany and Serbia after searching 22 locations in Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Serbia and questioning 261 individuals said in June 2022 that more than 46,000 people Americans reported losing over $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency to scams between January 2021 and March 2022.
This amounts to a massive increase compared to 2021, when the agency revealed that roughly $80 million were lost to cryptocurrency investment scams based on approximately 7,000 reports.
In October, the FBI warned about 'Pig Butchering' investment schemes where criminals steal ever-increasing amounts of cryptocurrency to raise awareness among cryptocurrency investors increasingly targeted by these scams.