European police bust Albanian investment and call centre scam

A criminal gang suspected of running an investment fraud scheme via ‌call centres in Albania has been dismantled, the pan-European police body Europol said on Wednesday. Europol said the operation, which involved Albanian ‌and Austrian authorities since many victims were in Vienna, resulted in ‌the arrests of 10 people and the seizure of nearly 900,000 euros ($1.1 million) in cash.

Victims were initially lured in via investment adverts on social ⁠media ​or the ⁠internet. The call centres in Tirana were then used to offer advice over ⁠the telephone from people pretending to be authentic brokers. "Operators were organised ​into teams of six to eight individuals, each specialising in ⁠a specific language to target their respective national markets. Languages covered included German, ⁠English, ​Italian, Greek, and Spanish," said Europol in a statement.

"As is common in investment scams, language familiarity was used to ⁠create and build trust. The suspects relied on this element to ⁠deceive their ⁠victims, presenting false investment opportunities and convincing them to transfer significant amounts of money," it added. ($1 = ‌0.8544 euros)

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