Members of cyber fraud network that scammed Azerbaijani citizens detained

Internationally wanted organizers of a cyber fraud network who defrauded Azerbaijani citizens of funds by posing as law enforcement officers have been detained and brought to the country.

This was reported to Operativ Media by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It was noted that annual damages inflicted by cybercrime on the global economy have increased by 75 percent over the last five years, rising from $6 trillion to $10.5 trillion. The threats posed by cybercrime, which is globally widespread in nature, naturally do not bypass Azerbaijan. The transnational character of cybercrime, the operation of criminal networks from different countries, and the use of modern technological capabilities in illegal financial transactions further increase the importance of combating this phenomenon. Preventing such crimes requires not only detecting individual violations, but also identifying their organizers, foreign connections, and financial mechanisms. In this regard, another operation conducted by the Main Department for Combating Cybercrime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs jointly with the Ukrainian police in Ukraine revealed that cyber fraud is organized internationally and that Azerbaijani citizens have become targets of organized networks operated from abroad. As a result of the measure, the activities of an organized cyber fraud network operated from Ukraine to seize funds belonging to Azerbaijani citizens were exposed. Investigations established that the network's activities were organized through call centers set up under the guise of various service offices in several Ukrainian cities. To recruit new members into the criminal network, job advertisements promising high salaries in information technology and customer service were posted on the Telegram platform. Consequently, citizens of several countries were recruited into these illegally operating centers in Ukraine. In the call centers, network members called Azerbaijani citizens based on specially prepared conversation scripts and used various psychological manipulation techniques. Posing as employees of law enforcement agencies, mobile operators, banks, and investment companies, they provided citizens with false information stating that suspicious transactions were occurring on their accounts, their funds were at risk, their bank cards would be blocked, or illegal financial transactions were being conducted in their names. In other instances, fake investment offers promising high returns were used to victimize citizens of cyber fraud. Exploiting the state of fear and panic they created, or the desire for easy earnings, network members urged citizens to make hasty decisions, transfer their funds to supposedly safe accounts, and disclose bank card details, SMS confirmation codes, and other confidential passwords. Through operations carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, 11 people working in illegal call centers operating in Kyiv, including Nariman Iskandarov, Elsun Aliyev, Elshad Musayev, and Elshan Shukurov, who were internationally wanted as the main organizers of the network, were detained and brought to Azerbaijan. It was revealed that Ruslan Zakirov, Yasaf Bayramov, Elsevar Mammadov, Dmitri Dushin, and Ruslan Matveyev communicated with network members abroad via Telegram and participated in laundering the funds obtained through cyber fraud. They consolidated the stolen money into bank card accounts under their control, took an agreed percentage, converted the remainder into cryptocurrency, and sent it abroad. Criminal proceedings have been launched under relevant articles of the Criminal Code regarding the facts. By court decision, a pretrial detention measure was chosen for the ringleaders. Investigative proceedings regarding the other detained individuals are ongoing. We once again remind the public that along with coordinated activities of law enforcement agencies and international cooperation, citizen vigilance plays a crucial role in combating cybercrime. For this reason, we urge citizens to exercise caution regarding suspicious job offers promising high salaries and easy money on social media, not to share card details, SMS confirmation codes, or other confidential passwords with unknown individuals, to verify questions asked during suspicious calls with official sources, and to report cyber fraud cases to the police immediately!