Officers of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Investigations Directorate of the National Investigation Inspectorate (INI), prosecutors from the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) and prosecutors from the Timisoara Prosecutor’s Office in Romania conducted more than 20 raids in both countries, followed by the detention of four people, in a money laundering case involving more than RON 1.5 million, about 6,094,722 Moldovan lei

The raids were carried out in 11 locations in Romania as well as in Moldova – in Chisinau, Falesti and Ungheni. According to the Inspectorate General of Police (IGP), during the operation were seized for further investigation: bank cards, mobile phones, as well as other carriers of electronic information, which confirm the criminal activity of the members of the criminal group under investigation.

“In order to ensure the recovery of the damage caused, a luxury car estimated at €40,000 was seized from the organizer of the criminal scheme for seizure.

The criminal scheme consists of defrauding people in Romania under the pretext of investing money on online investment platforms. For this purpose, the suspects created fake social media accounts connected to non-existent companies. The 32 victims were selected by the suspects, starting in 2020, through social networks, including advertising created by Romanian showbiz influencers. Among them are adult children, who also convinced their parents to participate in the investment scheme.

The suspects promised the people contacted that they would invest the money entrusted to them by the victims on virtual currency exchanges, with a “guaranteed profit” within two months. Specifically, they made false promises that the profit could sometimes be as high as 95%, 18% profit per day, including 100% profit, telling them that if they deposited 100 euros, in 72 hours they would receive double,” the IGP notes.

Subsequently, according to the police, the money invested by the victims was transferred to the perpetrators’ accounts in Moldova, where it was laundered to disguise its illegal origin. Moreover, in order to gain the confidence of the victims, they were initially induced to transfer small amounts of money as an investment, and then the money transferred, as well as the alleged profit, was sent back to them.

20 people are to be heard as suspects. They are aged between 20 and 30, with no criminal record, some of them students in Romania. Throughout the investigation, the parties in the case are presumed innocent, according to the law.

In Moldova, the arrest was carried out by officers of the Money Laundering Investigation and Terrorist Financing Directorate of the IGP.