New details have been revealed from the ” Phishing ” operation where a group in Albania had set up a scheme to get money through e-mail fraud.
Two Albanians, Xhentil Kupe and Fatbardh Danja, as well as two Cameroonians, Donald Anu and Marie Gufan, have been handcuffed. 8 others are also wanted.
Meanwhile, through fictitious companies, they have managed to deceive companies from 9 countries of the world, starting from the USA, England, Lithuania, Turkey to the Philippines. The damage they have caused for 2 years is about 4 million euros.
NOTICE BY THE STATE POLICE
Another operation to crack down on criminal activity in the field of computer fraud is being finalized.
Coded operation “PHISHING”, 4 citizens are handcuffed, 8 citizens are declared wanted, another 1 is prosecuted.
Tirana Local Police Directorate, Unit C – Cybercrime Investigation in the Investigation Directorate, Criminal Police Department and the General Directorate of State Police, under the direction of the Prosecution at the First Instance of the Tirana Judicial District, carried out the police operation “PHISHING”.
Following an investigation launched in 2020, after receiving information and maximally assessing the criminal situation created, the Cybercrime Investigation Unit in cooperation with the Tirana Judicial District Prosecutor’s Office, have registered 2 criminal proceedings and has carried out continuous and in connection with the verification and prosecution of some citizens for the criminal offense “Computer Fraud”.
After conducting investigations, Unit “C” Cybercrime Investigation, in cooperation with the Prosecution at the First Instance of the Tirana Judicial District has carried out the following actions:
Detained citizens:
1. Donald Anu, 34, citizen of Cameroon, alias Ugochukëu Emmanuel Emereibenu 39, citizen of Nigeria;
2. Marie Goufan, 31 years old, Cameroonian citizen, resident in Tirana;
3. Fatbardh Danja, 40 years old, resident in Tirana;
4. Xhentil Kupe, 54 years old, resident in Tirana.
8 foreign nationals involved in this criminal activity have been declared wanted.
HM, a citizen of Cameroon, resident in Tirana, was also prosecuted at large.
The criminal situation pursued by “Unit C – Investigation of cybercrime”, in cooperation with the Tirana Judicial Prosecutor’s Office had to do with reasonable suspicions that these citizens, in cooperation with each other have committed actions aimed at setting up a fraud scheme of payment via e-mail for fraud of citizens through the creation of fictitious commercial entities, redirecting banking transactions of commercial entities, etc. This blow to this criminal scheme is realized for the first time in the territory of the Republic of Albania.
This scheme is called “Fraud of payment via e-mail”, as these citizens, based on reasonable suspicions, together with other citizens outside the territory of the Republic of Albania, have controlled the electronic communications between customers and commercial entities. After interfering with the computer system, they stayed “asleep” until they saw specific requests regarding various funds or payments. At this point, these citizens have made their moves. They have contacted the client, taking on the role of receiving funds, informing them that the company banking details have changed and asking them to transfer the funds to the new account. They being inside the communications have been able to produce an email message with the same look as the real thing.
For this scheme to work, these citizens had opened fictitious commercial entities and in many cases with forged documents created through electronic devices, but also bank accounts with forged documents as administrators of entities. Once the monetary values were transferred to the accounts that these citizens had opened they were withdrawn and sent to other states.
The entities that have been verified so far as fictitious commercial entities and registered in the National Business Center and that have subsequently been opened bank account numbers in their name are:
1. CONNECTA INTERCONTINENTAL SHPK
2. ËORLDËIDE GO LTD
3. WORLDWIDE TRADING LIMITED
4. AFRICAN-ALBANIAN COMERCE
5. KËOK TANG SHPK,
6. KRACO LIMITED SHPK
7. MICHAEL ODYLON LAGMON ROMERO SHPK
8. PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD SHPK
9. TANG KËOK YUE SHPK
10. LEKLIFARM GLOBAL sh.pk
11. MAIBOM GBMH
12. HORTIFEEDS
13. TEST FUCHS GBMH
14. GS ECOMETAL CO LTD
15. ECI PHARMACEUTICALS LLC
16. AGNES KATBETH KREIMER
17. XHENTIL KUPE
So far, entities have been identified that have fallen prey to this fraud from different countries of the world and more precisely from:
1. USA
2. GERMANY
3. ENGLISH
4. TURKEY
5. BELGIUM
6. SWITZERLAND
7. FINLAND
8. LITHUANIA
9. PHILIPPINES
Also, bank accounts opened in commercial banks have been identified and in close cooperation with these banks, the transactions carried out by these citizens through fictitious companies created by them have been kept under control, in order to fully document this criminal activity. The monetary values identified and suspected as redirected as a result of this criminal scheme have been returned to the entities that sent them, minimizing the damage and potential victims.
Until now, it is suspected that these citizens have exercised their criminal activity for a long period of about 2 years and together with unidentified citizens outside the territory of the Republic of Albania may have committed fraudulent payment by e-mail in an amount of about 4,000,000 euros.
With the quality of material evidence were seized:
1. 1 Huyndai brand vehicle
2. 3 laptop computer accessories
3. 11 cell phones
4. 20 SIM cards
5. 2 tablet computer accessories
6. 3 seals of subjects
7. 8 credit / debit cards
8. 9 memory cards
9. Other electronic auxiliary devices etc.
10. Various documents such as bank certificates, bank invoices, photocopies of passports of Albanian and foreign citizens, invitations for residence permits, various notarial contracts, power of attorney, etc.
Currently, work is being done for the full disclosure of this criminal activity, the identification of other fictitious commercial entities opened in the territory of the Republic of Albania, the identification of all other commercial entities deceived through this scheme and the identification and bringing to justice and persons others implicated in this activity.
Relevant procedural actions were carried out and the investigative materials were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of First Instance in Tirana, for the continuation of further investigative and procedural actions for the criminal offense “Computer fraud”.
