Cyprus was among 15 countries that worked together on 12 May to takedown a dangerous criminal group responsible for defrauding victims across Europe and beyond with fake supplements and medicines, according to a press release by Eurojust, issued on Thursday.
The group allegedly claimed to sell legitimate medicines that cured serious illnesses and their illegal activities generated €240 million in illicit transactions, Eurojust said, noting that a coordinated action day resulted in the collection of important evidence, the detention of some of the main members of the group and the seizure of large supplies of supplements. “Eurojust and Europol supported the investigations from the outset, ensuring efficient and effective cooperation between the 15 countries”, it said.
Cyprus participated through the Attorney General’s Office and the Cyprus Police, it said.
It is noted that, since 2019, the group set up companies through which they marketed supplements that were not authorised for sale and sold over 400 differently named supplements. “A network of virtual sellers built hundreds of websites and social media pages, often using the names and images of famous people and fake doctors to mislead victims from across the European Union and beyond”, it said. The criminal group trained their affiliates to create fake social media accounts, make them appear legitimate and avoid detection by social media companies, it adds.
According to Eurojust, appearing to be doctors or medical specialists, the call centre operators claimed that their supplements were genuine treatments for incurable or serious diseases. “By misleading their victims with these fake medicines, the criminal group caused serious harm”, it said, adding that the investigation revealed that victims stopped taking the prescribed treatment by their doctor. When too many complaints were made for a product, “it would simply be renamed and relaunched”, it adds.
After victims came forward, Romanian authorities began investigating the criminal group and uncovered a large international network operating across Europe, Eurojust said, adding that the criminal group used legitimate companies from across Europe to run their operations. “International judicial cooperation was essential to gather evidence and witness testimonials and take actions against the members of the group located and the group’s call centres”, it said.
To collect evidence and hear witnesses, a coordinated action day was planned on 12 May, with actions taking place simultaneously in 15 countries, coordinated by Eurojust from its headquarters.
Authorities, it said, searched 113 locations in Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Evidence was requested from companies in eight countries, and 23 witnesses were interviewed so far, it adds, noting that in Romania, 196 websites that used to promote and sell the supplements were blocked. In Bulgaria, the central warehouse of the criminal group was identified where large amounts of supplements were found that will also be further analysed, it said among other things.
“The joint investigation team was able to identify the majority of the suspected members of the group and detained some of the main members in Poland, Romania and the Republic of Moldova”, it said, adding that investigations into the criminal group will continue, while more information will be collected and more witnesses and suspects will be interviewed.
