Tengrinews.kz – A transnational network of online fraudsters operating across Russia and the CIS has been dismantled in a joint special operation by the interior ministries of Kazakhstan and Russia, Polisia.kz reports.
According to the Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs, on October 21, officers from Kazakhstan’s Cybercrime Department and Russia’s Cyberpolice Directorate detained four Russian citizens who organized a large-scale scheme involving the supply and activation of SIM cards used for fraudulent activities targeting citizens of Kazakhstan and other CIS countries.
The coordinated operation was conducted simultaneously in three regions of Russia.
Authorities seized 11 SIM-box devices, 3 laptops, 31 mobile phones, and over 19,000 Kazakh and European SIM cards.
“The seized laptops contained log files with user activity data, including activated phone numbers from Kazakh and other mobile operators since early 2023. These numbers were later used for fraudulent calls. Several cases of their use have already been confirmed,” the ministry said in a statement.
Investigative measures are currently underway to identify all circumstances and possible accomplices involved in the cybercrime network.