Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry and Ukrainian police conduct joint operation against cyber fraudsters

The organizers of a cyber fraud network who were wanted internationally for defrauding Azerbaijani citizens by posing as law enforcement officers and stealing their money have been detained and brought to Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) told Report.

The ministry said that another joint operation conducted by the Main Department for Combating Cybercrime (MDCC) of Azerbaijan's MIA and Ukrainian police on Ukrainian territory had once again exposed the international scale of cyber fraud and revealed how Azerbaijani citizens were being targeted by organized networks operating from abroad.

The operation uncovered an organized cyber fraud network run from Ukraine with the aim of stealing money from Azerbaijani citizens.

Investigators established that the network operated through call centers set up under the guise of various service offices in several Ukrainian cities. To recruit new members, the criminal network posted job advertisements on Telegram, offering high salaries for positions in information technology and customer service. As a result, citizens of several countries were recruited to work at these illegally operating centers in Ukraine.

At the call centers, network members used specially prepared scripts to contact Azerbaijani citizens and employ various psychological manipulation techniques. Posing as representatives of law enforcement agencies, mobile operators, banks and investment companies, they provided false information, claiming that suspicious transactions had been detected in victims' accounts, their money was at risk, their bank cards would be blocked or illegal financial transactions were being carried out in their names.

In other cases, they used fraudulent investment offers promising high returns to lure citizens into becoming victims of cyber fraud.

Taking advantage of the fear and anxiety they had created, or people's desire to make easy money, the network members pressured victims into making hasty decisions. They persuaded them to transfer their funds to supposedly secure accounts and disclose their bank card details, SMS verification codes and other confidential passwords.

As part of the operation conducted in cooperation with Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs, 11 people working at illegal call centers in Kyiv were detained and brought to Azerbaijan. Those detained included Nariman Iskandarov, Elsun Aliyev, Elshad Musayev and Elshan Shukurov, who had been placed on an international wanted list as the alleged masterminds behind the network.

It was also established that Ruslan Zakirov, Yasaf Bayramov, Elsavar Mammadov, Dmitry Dushin and Ruslan Matveyev had maintained contact with members of the network abroad via Telegram and participated in laundering proceeds obtained through cyber fraud.

They consolidated the stolen funds in bank card accounts under their control, retained an agreed percentage and converted the remaining money into cryptocurrency before transferring it abroad.

Criminal proceedings have been initiated under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code. A court has ordered pretrial detention for the alleged ringleaders. Investigations involving the other detained individuals are ongoing.