Law enforcement authorities in Uzbekistan have reportedly dismantled a major criminal ring that allegedly specialized in stealing funds from citizens' bank cards and taking out unauthorized online loans in their names. According to the State Security Service (SSS), the total amount of allegedly stolen funds reached a staggering 8 million dollars.

Investigators claim that five residents of Tashkent and the surrounding region, aged between 21 and 37, rented a non-residential space in the capital's Mirabad district to establish an underground call center. The operation was supposedly led by a previously convicted resident of the Tashkent region, and astonishingly included an employee from the cybersecurity department of a major commercial bank's head office. *The perpetrators allegedly called citizens posing as bank representatives, warning them that unknown individuals were supposedly attempting to issue loans in their victims' names. Under this pretext, they extracted sensitive personal data, looted bank accounts, and saddled victims with burdensome online debts.

To launder the proceeds, the suspects allegedly converted the stolen money into cryptocurrency and funneled it abroad through fictitious limited liability companies. Criminal proceedings have been initiated, and authorities have reportedly identified ten additional individuals linked to the syndicate.

Source: podrobno.uz