Law enforcement agencies in Europe successfully conducted a joint operation resulting in the closure of 12 call centers specializing in telephone fraud. The operation, named Pandora, took place on April 18 with the participation of hundreds of officers from Germany, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Lebanon. During the raids, 39 suspects were identified, with 21 of them being detained.
Assets worth approximately 1 million euros, including documents, cash, and other valuables, were seized as a result of the operation. Additionally, important electronic data was obtained, which is expected to help identify other fraudulent call centers and individuals involved in such schemes.
The suspects apprehended in the operation employed various deceptive tactics such as fake police calls, investment scams, and romantic fraud to defraud victims. The Pandora operation was launched in December 2023 following the observant actions of a bank employee in Freiburg, Germany.
An investigation revealed that the suspects’ phone numbers were linked to over 28,000 fraudulent calls within a span of 48 hours. Real-time monitoring of call center conversations enabled the interception of more than 1.3 million calls and the prevention of approximately 80% of financial fraud attempts, avoiding damages exceeding 10 million euros.
In previous years, Europol had conducted similar successful operations against telephone fraud. Notably, a significant operation took place in March 2022, targeting a large-scale investment fraud scheme operated by 200 individuals in Latvia and Lithuania. The operation led to the arrest of 108 suspects involved in deceiving victims of at least 3 million euros monthly.