National Police Liquidated Pseudo-exchange with Call Center in Kyiv

• A call center in Kyiv organized a fake financial platform for Europeans.
• Out of more than 30 victims in the EU, five lost UAH 8.2 million.
• Law enforcement officers exposed the pseudo-trading service and seized more than $1.4 million.

The National Police of Ukraine has served suspicion notices to members of an organized criminal group that created pseudo-trading platforms and misappropriated funds from EU citizens under the guise of investments in the stock market, cryptocurrencies, and shares of “promising” companies.

According to the investigation, the victims included more than 30 foreign nationals, and only five of them “invested” UAH 8.2 million in cryptocurrencies.

The criminal group created fake platforms for online trading, where they demonstrated “successful” investment results.

The police noted that the defendants “launched ‘trading’ on the stock market, attracting new participants with large profits.”

A call centre in Kyiv with 20 employees played a key role. The leader and two accomplices “organized a call centre in Kyiv, whose employees called potential clients and attracted them to invest in cryptocurrencies and securities.”

Managers of VIP clients used remote access to install special software on investors’ computers. With its help, the criminals “actually exercised control over the clients’ computers and showed them fictitious profits.”

The proceeds were transferred to crypto wallets and “cashed out through exchange offices in Kyiv.”

During the special operation, 21 searches were conducted, including in the call centre’s office, cars and the suspects’ homes.

Law enforcement officers seized “more than $1.4 million, over UAH 5.8 million, and EUR 17,000 in cash, obtained by criminal means,” as well as equipment, records, and data storage devices.

The case is being investigated under Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Three members of the group have been notified of suspicion, and the police are asking the court to take them into custody.

The defendants face up to 12 years in prison.

This case is another in a series of exposés of criminal schemes involving cryptocurrencies. In particular:

• In May 2023, the National Police and the FBI dismantled a network of nine unlicensed exchanges that laundered money
• In March 2024, the police detained a group that illegally transported men abroad by accepting payment in crypto assets
• In June, the Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office exposed a scheme where fraudsters posed as crypto asset developers and lured money from EU citizens. The losses were estimated at “several million hryvnias”
• In October 2025, a scheme involving the creation of a fake cryptocurrency advertised on Telegram was discovered in Khmelnytskyi region; investors from Europe and the Middle East were affected
• Later, a resident of Ternopil lost more than $28,000 when an “analyst” on behalf of a fake investment platform lured him into transferring funds and blocked access to his account