Criminal Organization Embezzles 810 Million AMD, Investigation Committee Reports

The Investigative Committee of Armenia has reported that during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case initiated by the Cyber Crimes and High Technology Crimes Investigation Department, evidence has been obtained regarding the involvement of S.K. in a criminal organization established and led by a group of individuals since October 2021, which operated until December 8, 2023.

According to the Committee, S.K. utilized fake content websites and sophisticated computer systems to engage with at least 144 members of the criminal organization, including minors. This allowed unauthorized access to victims' information and facilitated the alteration and falsification of data without proper consent or legal grounds.

After deceiving victims and reinforcing their trust, S.K. directed them to transfer various sums of money to bank accounts controlled by the organization, thus embezzling more than 810 million AMD from over 1404 victims in foreign countries.

S.K. is facing public criminal prosecution under part 1 of Article 319 (participation in a criminal organization) and points 1 and 3 of part 3 of Article 257 (computer embezzlement on a particularly large scale by a criminal organization) of the Criminal Code. The criminal case has been sent to the supervising prosecutor with a request for approval and forwarding to court for substantive examination.

Notice: The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law in accordance with the established procedures of the Criminal Procedure Code.