A criminal group consisting of 23 foreign nationals was uncovered in an apartment in Tashkent
They had been fraudulently acquiring customers' property through an illegally operating Call center.
A criminal group consisting of 23 foreign nationals identified in a Tashkent apartment
A call center aimed at fraudulently seizing clients' property was uncovered in one of the apartments in the Yakkasaroy district of Tashkent city. This was reported by the press service of the capital's Main Department of Internal Affairs.
According to the report, an internal affairs officer inspecting apartments passed by a vacant apartment and saw a citizen coming out of it. The officer spoke with him to clarify the status of the vacant apartment. At that moment, the citizen offered the officer a $1,000 bribe. The internal affairs officer refused the bribe offered by the criminal group member. When the house was inspected in the presence of impartial witnesses, it was revealed that there were 4-5 citizens in each room, with a total of 23 citizens living there illegally.
Following this, during an operational event conducted by officers of the Cybercrime Department of the Tashkent City Main Department of Internal Affairs, 80 mobile communication devices, 21 laptops, 6 Wi-Fi routers, and 22 passports were seized from the location as physical evidence.
During the operational event, the group's activities related to crypto-assets were also exposed. In particular, 3 foreign nationals repeatedly engaged in the purchase and sale of crypto-assets through internet crypto-exchanges without obtaining a license in the prescribed manner. Their crypto-asset turnover amounted to 27,910.21 USDT (approximately 329.6 million soums).
"If operational actions had not been carried out in a timely manner, the activities of this covert center could have ensnared many more people in fraudulent schemes," the report states.
A criminal case has been initiated regarding this situation under the relevant paragraphs of Part 2 of Article 278-8 of the Criminal Code. Preliminary investigative actions are currently underway.
In July of this year, the activities of two large secret call centers were shut down in Tashkent. Representatives of the network were engaged in misappropriating funds by deceiving foreign citizens with high-yield investment and cryptocurrency projects.