Фото: court.gov.by
The Minsk City Court has delivered its verdict in the call center fraud case. Five organizers and 49 members of an international criminal organization with offices in Moscow, Bishkek, and Minsk were prosecuted.
The fraudulent call centers operated from 2017 to 2024. Their victims were citizens of CIS countries and the European Union. The scheme was based on offering victims passive income through investments in financial projects that did not actually exist. Victims were persuaded to transfer money to accounts controlled by the criminal organization. The total damage exceeded 2 million Belarusian rubles.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the investigation lasted one and a half years, while the trial continued for nine months.
The court found the defendants guilty of “leading structural units of a criminal organization, participating in its activities in other forms, and fraudulently obtaining property on a large and especially large scale as part of an organized group.”
The leaders of the criminal organization were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 11.5 years and fined between 1,000 and 10,000 basic units.
Other participants received prison sentences ranging from three years and three months to seven years and six months, along with fines of between 600 and 4,000 basic units.
“The court granted the victims’ civil claims. The defendants were ordered jointly and severally to pay more than 2.2 million Belarusian rubles in compensation for material damages, as well as 15,000 Belarusian rubles in compensation for moral damages,” the Prosecutor General’s Office added.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.