Kazakhstanis who tried to earn money in Europe cannot get their money back

Tengrinews.kz - Almaty police are investigating a case involving a visa center that promised employment in European countries to Kazakhstani citizens. Clients were charged fees ranging from 500,000 to 1.5 million tenge for visa processing and assistance, but the services were never provided. Now, the victims are unable to get their money back.

Legal consultant Askar Kassenov shared the details. According to him, he had previously sued the company. At that time, the civil court ruled in favor of the victims. However, the story has repeated itself. This time, the lawyer decided to file a complaint with the police regarding the fraud.

"After the court case, which we won the first time, the company began signing contracts with new clients. But these new contracts included a clause stating that any disputes could only be resolved in arbitration court. There's no trust in arbitration courts. They tend to favor the company rather than the victims. There’s already evidence of this. So, when new victims came to me regarding this same visa company, I filed a collective complaint with the police about the fraud.

The visa center’s scheme is as follows: clients approach them and either pay the full amount or part of it. After some time, when they realize they will never receive a visa, they start demanding their money back. But the company responds that it will only return 50 percent. Allegedly, the company incurred expenses while attempting to process the work visa, so they won’t refund the full amount. This happens with all clients. However, these expenses are never substantiated," said Askar Kassenov.

The legal consultant noted that the criminal case was not opened immediately. He had been pushing for this since April 2024. It wasn’t until August that his complaint was considered, and an investigation was initiated under Part 1 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code – "Fraud." The case has not yet been brought to court, and the number of victims is growing. One of them has passed away. According to the lawyer, two weeks prior to his death, the man was refunded part of his money, but the remaining amount was retained by the company.

"At first, three victims approached me. Now, there are seven. Later, I found other victims who already had lawyers. I brought everyone together in one chat. As of now, there are a total of 18 people. But I’m sure there are more; not all of them are reaching out to the police or the court. They live not only in Almaty but in various cities across Kazakhstan: Semey, Aktobe, Kostanay, Atbasar, Aktau. In my opinion, the investigation is taking a long time. I also believe that the charges should be requalified to ‘Fraud on a large scale committed by a group of individuals,’” the lawyer added.

Almaty police confirmed that a pre-trial investigation is underway. They did not provide further details.

"Currently, a range of operational and investigative measures are being carried out to ensure an objective and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the case. Other details of the pre-trial investigation are not subject to disclosure," the department responded.