The General Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, in collaboration with Eurojust and German authorities, has initiated legal proceedings against organizers of a transnational organized criminal group involved in fraudulent call centers, the Prosecutor’s Office announced at a briefing on Monday.

The General Prosecutor’s Office has initiated criminal proceedings against three organizers of a transnational organized criminal group, a group member, and a legal entity.

The investigation uncovered that the group operated a call center targeting citizens in Germany, providing false information about their company’s location and offering participation in the electronic trading of securities, commodities, currencies, and cryptocurrencies.

The operators fraudulently obtained funds from victims who believed they would make substantial profits through electronic trading. The group then laundered the illegally obtained funds through fictitious transactions on bank accounts and fraudulent schemes.

The criminal group, operating under the mentioned scheme, managed to legitimize illegal income amounting to tens of millions of GEL.

Criminal proceedings have been initiated against the organizers and accomplices involved in money laundering, punishable by nine to twelve years of imprisonment. The Prosecutor’s Office has seized immovable properties owned by the defendants, and efforts will be made to confiscate these properties in favor of the state.

The Prosecutor’s Office noted that the organizers of the crime have already been tried by the Regensburg Regional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany for commercial and group fraud.

The investigation is ongoing to identify and expose other individuals and entities involved in similar fraudulent call center activities. The Prosecutor’s Office has collaborated with international partners to prosecute individuals engaged in fraud and money laundering across various countries.