According to the investigation, the criminal group, numbering 34 people and led by a 40-year-old resident of Ferghana, rented premises in Ferghana and Tashkent, acting under the guise of "call centers".
Using information technology, members of the group illegally seized the data of more than 70,000 customers of organizations involved in the sale of medicines and biologically active additives in the Russian Federation.
The operators, trained in confidential communication methods, called mostly elderly people through SIP telephony and Zoiper applications, posing as employees of banks and law enforcement agencies. The fraudsters convinced the victims that the companies had allegedly sold substandard goods and promised to pay compensation from 500 to 580 thousand rubles, subject to payment of a "tax" in the amount of 5 to 20 thousand rubles.
As a result, the victims transferred a total amount of 9,599,561 rubles to the criminals' cards.
In addition, three members of the group, without a license to trade cryptocurrencies, illegally carried out the turnover of crypto assets worth about 470 thousand US dollars, violating the requirements of the Presidential decree "On measures to organize the activities of crypto exchanges in the Republic of Uzbekistan."
The Yazyavansky District Court found the members of the organized group guilty under articles 168, 243, 278-7 and 278-8 of the Criminal Code. 21 participants were sentenced to imprisonment from 3 years 6 months to 9 years 6 months, the remaining 13 persons were sentenced to imprisonment from 4 years 3 months to 4 years 6 months with fines. The material damage caused to the victim is subject to recovery.
