European police have claimed a major scalp in the ongoing battle against rampant online fraud after a two-year operation resulted in 10 arrests at suspected Albanian scam call centers.
Europol said the criminal network behind the call centers ran a highly professionalized investment fraud operation which is estimated to have cost victims at least €50m ($58m).
As well as the arrests, police searched three call centres and nine private homes in Albania, seizing nearly €900,000 ($1,053,000) in cash, 443 computers, 238 mobile phones, six laptops and multiple data storage devices.
The policing operation began in June 2023, when Austrian law enforcement identified a large number of fraud victims in Vienna. In April 2024, they requested the Albanian authorities hand over an IP address suspected of being used by the perpetrators, Europol said.
Read more on investment fraud: European Police Bust €3m Investment Fraud Ring
Victims were apparently lured into the scheme by misleading ads on social media and search engines.
Once registered with the scam operation, they were assigned a dedicated “retention agent” impersonating an investment advisor, whose job it was to encourage them to put more money into the scheme.
A Professional Operation
The scheme is notable for being organized along the same lines as a legitimate business.
Teams of call center agents were arranged in groups of six to eight, focusing on a specific language and target market.
Of the estimated 450 employees in the operation, ‘conversion agents’ worked in ‘customer acquisition,’ while retention agents were part of the ‘customer service’ team. Other staff worked in dedicated management, finance, IT, HR, and other teams, Europol revealed.
Team leaders apparently supervised their activities, with a single call center manager coordinating and guiding overall operations. They received a monthly salary of €800 with the promise of extra commissions for new ‘customers.’
Pressure and Expertise
The retention agents used their local language skills to put victims at their ease, applying psychological pressure and feigning confidence in the scheme to persuade them to invest.
Victims were apparently told to open accounts on cryptocurrency platforms with an initial deposit of €500. Those suffering losses were re-contacted by the criminal network in a recovery fraud scheme where they falsely touted services to find the stolen funds.
Europol claimed that on some occasions they also gained full remote control over victims’ machines using remote access software, although it’s not clear for what purpose.
As per most investment fraud scams, the money was never invested or returned to the victims but instead laundered internationally.
The scheme is said to have victimized individuals in Austria, Italy, Germany, Greece, Spain, Canada and the UK.
Investment fraud was the highest-grossing cybercrime type once again in 2025, amassing over $8.6bn for scammers, according to the FBI.
Just this week, the FBI, Dubai Police Department and Chinese Ministry of Public Security teamed up in an operation which led to the arrest of at least 276 individuals and the shuttering of nine scam centers used for cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes.
The US also sanctioned a Cambodian network accused of orchestrating large-scale crypto fraud.
