The Anti-Money Laundering Department and the Sofia District Prosecutor's Office have uncovered part of a large global money laundering network through financial fraud. Four people have been detained, and three are wanted. Two of the participants in the scheme are Ukrainians who have acquired Bulgarian citizenship, and they are among those declared internationally wanted. The leader of the criminal group is one of them, Nova TV reported.
The fraud works by establishing commercial companies by low-status individuals recruited from Botevgrad, Sofia and Lovech, Sofia District Prosecutor Natalia Nikolova reported. After these individuals establish the companies, they open bank accounts and provide them to Ukrainian citizens. They, in turn, receive sums of money from different parts of the European Union through bank fraud. With phishing attacks, they reach the bank accounts of various users. They deceive the owners into paying pro forma invoices to suppliers who often communicate with the persons in question, transferring the money. These funds are ordered to countries in the Middle East.
Some of the victims were mistaken that they were buying cryptocurrency, and others that they owed money to a certain company through a pro forma invoice.
“Around 3 million leva passed through Bulgaria. We managed to intercept this channel, which is part of a global network”, Nikolova also said.
Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Anti-Money Laundering and Counterfeiting Department Emil Borisov added that the organized group was engaged in money laundering, VAT and financial fraud.
It is yet to be clear who will be charged.