Ericsson Cuts Relationship With Israeli Firm That Provided Tech Used by Scammers

Swedish telecom giant Ericsson has dropped an Israeli customer that provided key communications technology to call centers exposed in Scam Empire, an investigation by OCCRP and partners into two large-scale investment rackets. 

The customer, Coperato, is a provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, which allow users to make phone calls over the internet and choose which country code their numbers appear to be calling from.   

A trove of leaked data from inside two scam operations — which was shared with Swedish Television (SVT) and formed the basis of Scam Empire — revealed Coperato to be one of several VoIP providers used by the scammers to phone victims around the world. 

According to the leaked data, one of the scam operations based in Israel and Europe paid Coperato more than $1 million for its services over a roughly 3.5-year period. 

A law firm representing Coperato said the company “categorically denies any involvement in any illegal or improper activities and underscores the fact that it has never been accused of conducting such activities.” 

There is no evidence that Coperato was aware of the scamming. 

While Coperato comprehensively vets all clients, it is ultimately “not responsible for any actions, if any, taken by third parties on its systems,” the lawyers wrote. 

Using Coperato and other VoIP providers to reach victims around the globe, the scammers posed as friendly financial advisors calling from locations such as Switzerland or the U.K. Their goal was to persuade victims to pour money into fake investment schemes, and then serve up excuses whenever they asked to withdraw the earnings. 

Together, the two scam operations exposed by the leak convinced more than 32,000 people globally to make “investments” totaling at least $275 million.

Coperato’s VoIP services had, since 2015, relied on communication tools provided by Vonage, which became a subsidiary of Ericsson Inc in 2022. Shortly after reporters reached out to Ericsson with questions about Coperato's business with the scammers, the Israeli firm was dropped as a client.

In comments to Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri, an Ericsson press officer confirmed Coperato was “no longer a Vonage customer.”

The law firm representing Coperato told OCCRP its client “was very surprised to receive a notice from one of its key service providers, with whom it has collaborated for over six years, informing it of the immediate termination of their business relationship.”

The leaked data shared with reporters shows that Coperato’s VoIP services were integrated into customer management software used by the call centers to track their conversations with potential victims. 

Coperato’s CEO Gil Shoval said such integration is a “standard and legitimate” practice carried out for clients across various industries. The files also include chats over Skype between employees of the scam operation and an account named “Coperato.” The account’s icon bears the company’s logo. 

In the chats, the Coperato-branded account responds to requests to replace phone numbers after previous ones had been flagged as spam, and to block incoming calls from specific numbers. Lawyers representing Coperato did not answer a question about whether this was a genuine company account. 

Shoval said that replacing flagged numbers is a “routine practice” in the VoIP industry. He said Coperato runs a strict vetting process to ensure that “only legitimate businesses can access our platform,” adding that it has previously closed accounts of customers who have been flagged by authorities.

While there is no evidence Coperato was aware of the scams uncovered by OCCRP, some of the Skype chats include mentions of the unauthorized investment platforms the call center agents used for swindling their clients. The platforms had already been the subject of warnings by Swiss financial regulators.

Lawyers representing Coperato did not answer questions about whether the company was aware of the warnings, or had looked into the platforms mentioned in the chats. They noted that the suspicious investment platforms were never Coperato customers.