A joint international effort involving Czech and Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, assisted by Europol and Eurojust, has dismantled a prolific phishing gang responsible for defrauding victims across Europe, with the total losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros.

The criminal operation primarily targeted Czech victims, with estimated financial losses exceeding EUR 8 million (CZK 195,000,000).

As part of the police operation, six suspects were arrested in Ukraine and four suspects were apprehended in Czechia in April of this year. During the raids conducted at locations across Ukraine and Czechia, the police seized mobile phones, SIM cards, and computer equipment.

The phishing syndicate used call centers in Ukraine to conduct so-called vishing attacks, a type of social engineering attack conducted over the phone aimed at tricking a victim into handing over sensitive information or performing some action on the scammers' behalf.

The fraudsters, posing as bank employees and police officers, used sophisticated techniques to gain the trust of their victims. Their modus operandi involved convincing targets to transfer funds from what they claimed were 'compromised' bank accounts to allegedly 'safe' accounts controlled by the criminals.