As a result of operative-investigative activities, the employees of the Cybercrime Division under the Main Division for the Fight against Organized Crime of MIA Central Criminal Police Department arrested 4 people and charged 8 people with fraud against Internet users of foreign countries.
The detainees are: Z.S. (DoB 1972), E.N. (DoB 1991), I.K. (DoB1995) and A.M. (DoB 1994).
Charges were brought against: G.M. (DoB 1996), N.V. (DoB 1997), G.T. (DoB 1992), M.K.- a citizen of the Russian Federation born in 1990, I.M. (DoB 1998), G.K., (DoB 1992), I.V.- a citizen of the Russian Federation and the State of Israel, born in 1984, and G.Ts.- a citizen of the Kingdom of Belgium, born in 1989.
The committed crimes envision from 7 to 12 years of imprisonment.
The investigation established that the accused I.V. registered a company in Georgia, employees of which were sending "pop up" messages to citizens of a foreign country, mainly France, in the Internet browser, where it was written in French, that their computer was infected and that it needed correction because of errors. A special number was also provided where citizens were supposed to call. The message did not have a shutdown feature and users were unable to use the computer. Customers who believed their computers had a serious problem called the number listed in the message, which was used by the aforementioned company. At the first stage, the employees of the company's call center, who were known by French names, discussed with citizens the seriousness of the problem and promised to solve it. Customers who believed paid a certain fee using various online payment systems with which I.V. had established a connection, after which the above-mentioned company's so-called IT staff used remote access software to log into the victim's computer devices and disable pop-ups, as well as install some software to make the victim think they were getting the service they paid for from the company.
The investigation established that the victims of the illegal actions of the organized crime group suffered financial damage, more than 767,000 euros.
The investigation into the fact of unauthorized access to the computer system, fraud committed by an organized group and legalization of illegal income is being conducted under Articles 284, 180, and 194 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.
