Authorities crack down on €100m call center fraud targeting EU

More than €100 million has allegedly been stolen from EU citizens in a massive call center scam dismantled in Tirana.

Authorities have arrested over 30 people and are investigating 90 others following eight raids over the past three months. Tirana police led six operations, while SPAK, Eurojust, and Europol coordinated the other two.

Scammers convinced victims to invest in fake financial schemes. Investigators noted that the fraudulent call centers operated like legitimate businesses with strict corporate hierarchies. Police seized large amounts of cash, along with over 300 computers and mobile phones.

The crackdown is escalating rapidly. The eight raids conducted between April and mid-July match the total number of operations carried out in all of 2025.