The Special Prosecution Office has closed the investigation into a group that defrauded German citizens with Call Centers and has sent the organization's 8 defendants to trial at the Criminal Court.
The criminal group used servers in Germany and VPN services to hide their tracks, causing other numbers to appear on the victims' phones. However, cooperation between SPAK and the German police managed to trace the IP addresses to a secret headquarters on "Hamdi Sina" street in Tirana.
SPAK announcement:
SPAK closes investigations, 8 defendants on trial for computer fraud against German citizens
The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime completed the investigations and has sent to the Special Court of First Instance the request for the trial of criminal proceedings no. 42 of 2024, against the defendants:
Emiljano Sejdillari and Sokol Krasniqi, accused of committing the criminal offense of "Computer Fraud", to the detriment of several persons, in collaboration in the form of a structured criminal group, "Structured criminal group", and "Committing criminal offenses by a criminal organization and a structured criminal group", provided for as a criminal offense by 143/b/2, 28/4, 333/a/1 and 334/1 of the Criminal Code.
Rodrigo Guga, Eltion Logu, Tafil Dyrmishi and Lisjane Çulani, accused of committing the criminal offense of "Computer Fraud", in collaboration in the form of a structured criminal group, "Structured criminal group", and "Commitment of criminal offenses by a criminal organization and a structured criminal group", provided as a criminal offense by 143/b/2, 28/4, 333/a/2 and 334/1 of the Criminal Code.
Klejdi Nuka and Mateo Llozhi, accused of committing the criminal offense of "Computer Fraud", in collaboration, provided as a criminal offense by 143/b/2 of the Criminal Code.
This proceeding was initiated upon a request for legal assistance from the Karlsruhe General Prosecutor's Office in Germany, within the framework of a criminal proceeding against several persons suspected of organized fraud and trafficking, under Article 263 I, V of the German Criminal Code.
FRAUD SCHEME
On 14.12.2023, a woman from the Freiburg area, Germany, was the victim of an attempted fraud by an organized group, who demanded a sum of 120,000 euros. Thanks to the work of the German police, the perpetrators of the criminal act were prevented from handing over the amount demanded.
Since December 18, 2023, the number of suspects has been identified through wiretapping of the victim's home phone. Since the start of the wiretapping, several hundred thousand calls or attempted calls have been detected by German police authorities through this number. The calls were used to commit various types of fraud, some completed, some attempted).
The perpetrators used the “Caller-ID-Spoofing” application to display different numbers on the victims’ phones, with the aim of hiding their true origin. During the cyber investigation it was discovered that the calls to the injured parties were made using “Voice-over-IP” technology via “Servers” located in Germany. The perpetrators usually used anonymizing services such as “VPN” to hide their identity. However, during the evaluation of the data on these “Servers”, IT experts from the German State Police identified external IP addresses that indicated internet connections and end devices.
The interpretation and evaluation of this data by cyber specialists resulted in the victims being called via internet telephone service from various countries, including Albania. The IP addresses belonging to the companies “Digicom” and “Kujtesa Net” Sh.pk were identified. Based on the request for legal assistance, through which the identification of IP addresses was requested, it was deemed necessary to carry out more extensive actions and register criminal proceedings no. 42 of 2024.
Through special investigation methods, a call center was identified on “Hamdi Sina” Street, FZ Construction Buildings, 7th floor, in Tirana. Based on the decision of the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime, the search was carried out on 18.04.2024, at around 09:00. From the intervention in the “Call Center” facility, on “Hamdi Sina” Street, six suspects were found and escorted by the judicial police and numerous material, digital and documentary evidence were seized. In the context of two parallel investigations in Albania and Germany, the results and material evidence were sent for more in-depth analysis to the German judicial authorities. The complete analysis led to the clear result of the existence of a structured criminal group with the aim of defrauding German citizens through Call Centers, unregistered as businesses with the tax authorities.
Based on these analyses, with decision no. 73 dated 28.7.2025, the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime, assigned the personal security measures of "prison arrest" for five people and the personal security measures of "house arrest" for three other people.
The value of the damage caused, documented over a period of several months of Call Center activity, is 363,501 Euros, for 14 victims of fraud in Germany.
The low value of the damage caused is also related to the prevention of hundreds of fraud attempts by the suspected perpetrators. Once the calls were made by the "fraudsters", the victims were then contacted by German judicial police officers explaining the fraud scheme, resulting in the cancellation of payments.
After the security measure was imposed, the extradition to Albania of one of the persons investigated by the Federal Republic of Germany became possible.
SPAK reiterates the message to citizens and the media that the phenomenon of online fraud through call centers is an activity that will continue to be pursued with priority by the Special Prosecution Office and the State Police, in cooperation with international partners.
In addition to cracking down on this phenomenon, it is the duty of citizens who work in these Call Centers not to become part of their illegal activities.
