Bulgarian police have broken up an online investment fraud gang and shut down four call centres, the organised crime directorate (GDBOP) said. Nine people were detained, and losses so far are put at €600,000.
The raid took place on 20 October in several cities at once. The call centres were in Varna, Burgas and Sofia, two of them in the capital. Police searched 16 addresses. An earlier investigation had uncovered the scheme and the people involved.
GDBOP officers from Varna led the operation, helped by the economic police unit at the Varna regional police directorate. The Varna district prosecutor's office is overseeing the case. The supervising prosecutor has ordered that two of those detained be held for up to 72 hours.
GDBOP says gang members phoned people in various EU countries from the call centres and deceived them. They offered fake products, most often platforms for investing in crypto and other financial products, built with the help of artificial intelligence. They promised big, quick profits.
The victims' money was collected through "financial mules". These are people with a low social status, for whom companies were registered and bank accounts opened in Bulgarian banks.
During the searches, police seized electronic devices, flash drives, chips, documents and about €20,000 in cash. Many witnesses have been questioned. In the period under investigation, more than 200 transfers passed through the accounts in Bulgarian banks.