Scam Empire

Project
Published: March 5, 2025

Banner: James O’Brien/OCCRP

Impact of this project:

Scam call centers have been a scourge for years, conning ordinary people around the world out of hundreds of billions of dollars. 

Touting fake celebrity endorsements and deploying the latest technological buzzwords, skilled fraudsters lure victims into handing over their life savings for imaginary “investments.” And they operate with near-impunity: they’re hard to track and harder to prosecute. Their inner workings usually remain a mystery.

But not anymore. An unprecedented leak of nearly two terabytes of data from two major scam operations — thousands of hours of phone calls, screen recordings, spreadsheets, and other files — has enabled journalists to enter the scammers’ world and even to watch them at work.

It took a months-long collaborative effort by dozens of media partners to scour through this trove of evidence. The result is an unprecedented look into the heart of one of the world’s darkest industries.

This is Scam Empire.

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Scam Victims Speak Out

Annika's Story

Annika's Story

Annika Gustafson thought "Anthony Adams" was her friend. But he turned out to be a fake investment adviser who left her so broke she said she considered suicide.

Read the article (English)
Helmer's Story

Helmer's Story

Helmer Södergård was conned out of his life savings. Then scammers came after him again. This time, he fought back.

Read the article (English)
Marcel's Story

Marcel's Story

Marcel Deschamps was repeatedly targeted by scammers. One of them taunted him, saying he would never be able to track her down. But we did.

Read the article (English)
Markus's Story

Markus's Story

Markus is a seasoned IT specialist — but he was still duped by investment scammers.

Read the article (English)
The Elderly Couple's Story

The Elderly Couple's Story

They believed they were making smart investments through expert advisers. But this Latvian couple in their 80s lost their life savings to relentless scammers.

Read the article (English)

Stories From Our Partners

OCCRP and Swedish broadcaster SVT worked with over 30 media outlets around the world to bring the stories of Scam Empire to life.

Deepfakes, Cash and Crypto: How Call Center Scammers Duped 6,000 People
The Guardian

Deepfakes, Cash and Crypto: How Call Center Scammers Duped 6,000 People

A nursing home resident and pensioners were among thousands of victims of a massive fraud network operating from Georgia.

Read the article (English)
Call Center Crypto Scammers Unmasked as Data Leak Exposes Their Scheme
CBC/Radio-Canada

Call Center Crypto Scammers Unmasked as Data Leak Exposes Their Scheme

Files reveal every step of the ruse, from phony articles on X to counterfeit IDs and fake saviors

Read the article (English)
Bitcoin Gangs Scam Hundreds of Dutch People
Follow the Money

Bitcoin Gangs Scam Hundreds of Dutch People

At least 576 Dutch people have been victims of large-scale investment fraud. Hundreds of millions have been siphoned off via a shadowy network of fraudulent investment vehicles and online banks.

Read the article (Dutch)
Spain, Ground Zero For Cyber Fraud: 5,000 People Swindled By Two Global Networks Selling Fake Investments
infoLibre

Spain, Ground Zero For Cyber Fraud: 5,000 People Swindled By Two Global Networks Selling Fake Investments

Call center scammers stole 26.4 million euros from Spaniards, and even set up an office in Barcelona.

Read the article (Spanish)
Scam Empire: Cyprus Served as a Hub in Alleged Fraud Ring
CIReN

Scam Empire: Cyprus Served as a Hub in Alleged Fraud Ring

A call center in Cyprus was part of a scam operation based in Israel that appears to have targeted 26,810 individuals around the world.

Read the article (English)
Global Gang of Fraudsters Exposed: Belgians Also Invested in Criminal Call Center
De Tijd

Global Gang of Fraudsters Exposed: Belgians Also Invested in Criminal Call Center

A call center in Georgia that scammed thousands of people out of millions of euros with false investments has been exposed by De Tijd and foreign media.

Read the article (Dutch)
Inside the Dark Heart of a Multinational Investment Scam
AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism

Inside the Dark Heart of a Multinational Investment Scam

A data leak has unmasked a global network of alleged professional scammers drawing would-be investors onto dodgy trading platforms.

Read the article (English)
Scam Empire: Multimillion Investment Scam Used Maltese Companies To Cash In
Amphora Media

Scam Empire: Multimillion Investment Scam Used Maltese Companies To Cash In

Reporters spoke to over 200 victims of investment scams that targeted victims across the globe, including in Malta.

Read the article (English)
Empire of Fraud: How Bulgaria Found Itself at the Center of a Global Network of Financial Abuse
Bird

Empire of Fraud: How Bulgaria Found Itself at the Center of a Global Network of Financial Abuse

Fraudsters are making millions by luring victims through offers of profitable financial investments, with a key part of its operations taking place in Bulgaria.

Read the article (Bulgarian)
How Investment Fraudsters Rip Off German Pensioners
Der Spiegel

How Investment Fraudsters Rip Off German Pensioners

A Georgian call center sells customers supposedly lucrative investments that don't exist. The authorities? Powerless.

Read the article (German)
How the
IRPIMedia

How the "Customer Milking" Industry That Grossed 240 Million Euros Works

Internal documents reveal the operation of a network of call centers between Israel and Europe, with over 26,000 alleged victims.

Read the article (Italian)
Revelations on the
Le Monde

Revelations on the "Saphir" Network: A Multinational Investment Scam

Behind dozens of fraudulent platforms lies an organized criminal group operating from Israel, Ukraine, Bulgaria and even Cyprus.

Read the article (French)
The Gigantic Crypto Scam
Reporter.lu

The Gigantic Crypto Scam

Sophisticated schemes and nefarious backers: Reporter.lu reveals the methods used by fraud networks to take over 260 million Euros in loot.

Read the article (German)
Empire of Deception
SVT

Empire of Deception

The fraudsters have been able to work in secret. Until now.

Read the article (Swedish)
This Is How Scams Earned Over 30 Million Euros in a Few Years
YLE

This Is How Scams Earned Over 30 Million Euros in a Few Years

Material from inside the scam company showed the victims' money was taken professionally and efficiently.

Read the article (Finnish)
Expensive Jewelry and Helicopter Rides: Georgian Fraudsters Live Luxuriously While Defrauding Danes
Berlingske

Expensive Jewelry and Helicopter Rides: Georgian Fraudsters Live Luxuriously While Defrauding Danes

"I can't take it anymore." When Dane J.E. lost his last savings and was ready to take his own life, these fraudsters pressured him to invest more.

Read the article (Danish)
Shadowing the Crypto Scammers
Investico

Shadowing the Crypto Scammers

Fraudsters lured a surgeon, an architect, a police officer, and thousands of others into crypto investments, only to leave them empty-handed.

Read the article (Dutch)
Fraud Syndicate: An International Journalistic Investigation
Siena.lt

Fraud Syndicate: An International Journalistic Investigation

Within twelve months, a group of young Georgians managed to defraud people around the globe, including more than a hundred in Lithuania.

Read the article (Lithuanian)

The Reporting Team

Project Coordination: Joachim Dyfvermark (SVT)⁩; Antonio Baquero (OCCRP), Kelly Bloss (OCCRP), Lawrence Marzouk (OCCRP) 

Journalists: ⁨Lorenzo Bagnoli (IRPIMedia), Sophia Baumann (Paper Trail Media), Lars Bové (De Tijd), Tom Bolsius (Follow The Money), Julian Bonnici (Amphora Media), Jacob Borg (Times of Malta), Inese Braže (Re:Baltica), Luc Caregari (Reporter.lu), Lindita Cela, Šarūnas Černiauskas (Siena), Maria Cheresheva (OCCRP), Atanas Chobanov (Bird), Riccardo Coluccini (IRPIMedia), Andreas Cosma (CIReN), Turgut Denizgil (CIReN), Paul Émile d’Entremont (CBC/Radio-Canada), Victoria Denys (Le Monde), Pamela Duncan (The Guardian), Karim El Hadj (Le Monde), Ester Eriksson (Qurium), Margaux Farran (OCCRP), ⁨Eiliv Frich Flydal (VG), Juliette Garside (The Guardian), Michael Goodier (The Guardian), Simon Goodley (The Guardian), Mariia Horban (Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty), Eva Jung (Berlingske), Sanna Klinghoffer (SVT), Minna Knus-Galán (YLE), Remy Koens (Follow The Money), Lukas Kotkamp (Follow The Money), Miglė Krancevičiūtė (Siena.lt), Moritz Kudermann (ZDF), Damien Leloup (Le Monde), Tord Lundström (Qurium), Christodoulos Mavroudis⁩⁩ (CIReN), Gur Megiddo, Bastian Obermayer (Paper Trail Media), Gisle Oddstad (VG), Marta Orosz (ZDF); Stelios Orphanides (OCCRP), Greete Palgi (Delfi), Begoña P. Ramírez (Infolibre), Daiva Repeckaite (Amphora Media), Florian Reynaud (Le Monde), Laurent Schmit (Reporter.lu), Graham Stack (OCCRP), Holger Roonemaa (OCCRP), Iulia Stănoiu (Context.ro), Tom Stocks (OCCRP), Dimitar Stoyanov (Bird), Nora Thorp Bjørnstad (VG), Alexis Troma (Le Monde), Björn Tunbäck (SVT), Kornelija Ukolovaitė (Siena.lt), Romy van der Burgh (Investico), Linda van der Pol (Investico), Dewald van Rensburg (AmaBhungane), Simona Weinglass (OCCRP), Zoe Wood (The Guardian), Emma Wright (OCCRP), Jeff Yates (CBC/Radio-Canada), Frédéric Zalac (CBC/Radio-Canada), Kira Zalan (OCCRP)

Six Georgian journalists contributed vital reporting to this project but cannot be named for security reasons. 

The OCCRP Project Team

Writing and Editing: Peter Jones, Ilya Lozovsky, Sally Mairs, Laura Mannering, Miranda Patrucic, Julia Wallace

Lead Data Journalist: ⁨Malina McLennan 

Research and Data: Alina Tsogoeva, Eric Barrett

Lead Fact-Checker: Bojana Pavlović 

Fact-Checking: Ia Asatiani, Birgit Brauer, Ivana Jeremić, Olena LaFoy

Video: Sergiu Nicolae Brega, Brindusa Nastasa, Matt Sarnecki 

Design and Graphics: James O'Brien

Photo Editing: Erika Di Benedetto 

Web: Fabienne Meijer 

Social Media and Promotion: Sam Brooke, Amber Crossen, Lauren Jackman, Fabienne Meijer, ⁨Ekaterina Selivanova, ⁨Nils Weisensee⁩ 

Logistics: Nadia Ouddane

Media Partners

  • AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism (South Africa)

  • Amphora Media (Malta)

  • Berlingske (Denmark)

  • Bird (Bulgaria)

  • CBC/Radio-Canada (Canada)

  • CIReN (Cyprus)

  • Context.ro (Romania)

  • Delfi (Estonia)

  • Der Spiegel (German)

  • Der Standard (Austria)

  • Follow The Money (Netherlands)

  • Infolibre (Spain)

  • Investico (Netherlands)

  • IRPIMedia (Italy)

  • iFact (Georgia)

  • Le Monde (France)

  • OCCRP (global)

  • Paper Trail Media (German)

  • Qurium (Sweden)

  • Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty Ukrainian service (Ukraine)

  • Re:Baltica (Latvia)

  • Reporter.lu (Luxembourg)

  • Siena.lt (Latvia)

  • SVT (Sweden)

  • Studio Monitori (Georgia)

  • De Tijd (Belgium)

  • The Guardian (U.K.)

  • Times of Malta (Malta)

  • The Governance Monitoring Center (Georgia)

  • VG (Norway)

  • YLE (Finland)

  • ZDF (Germany)