An accountant at a prestigious organization in Bukhara fell victim to a large-scale fraud, losing more than 1 billion soums after a single phone call.

The incident occurred in December 2025, but the details of the intricate criminal scheme were disclosed by the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on May 10.

The scammers contacted the woman via Telegram, posing as officials from the Central Bank, and convinced her that commercial bank employees were allegedly stealing her savings. Under the pretext of ensuring security, they forced the victim to transfer all her funds from accounts in four different banks to "safe" cards.

In total, the woman transferred 1 billion 9 million soums to the fraudsters. The criminals used a complex multi-stage system to withdraw funds through so-called drop cards registered to straw persons in Tashkent, Khorezm, Andijan, and other regions.

The chain even involved minors and students who sold their bank cards to intermediaries for small sums ranging from 100,000 to 1 million soums. The proceeds were cashed out via ATMs in different cities or converted into cryptocurrency.

Officers from the Cybercrime Department of the Bukhara Regional Internal Affairs Directorate conducted a large-scale operation in Tashkent, during which two main organizers of the group, responsible for cashing out and coordinating actions, were detained. During searches of their luxury cars, dozens of phones, SIM cards, and over 100 million soums in cash were seized.

A criminal case has been opened against the detainees under Article 168, Part 4, Paragraph "a" of the Criminal Code (fraud on an especially large scale). All stolen funds amounting to 1 billion 9 million soums have been fully recovered and returned to the victim.

Source: podrobno.uz