Albania raids disrupt alleged call-center network tied to $59m losses; experts warn operations will shift

A two-year cross-border investigation culminated recently in raids on several alleged scam call centers in Tirana, where Austrian and Albanian authorities seized more than $1 million and arrested 10 people. Europol said the operations “disrupted” a criminal network that had caused significant financial damage totaling $59 million.

Despite the success, specialists caution that such crackdowns may only dent a fast-moving industry. “The real organizers behind the call centers are not at the physical location,” said Jorij Abraham, managing director of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance. “They have ‘sergeants’ managing the call centers for them.

If one center is busted, the next one is easily set up.” According to Europol, the Tirana centers functioned like professional businesses, with departments such as IT and human resources and as many as 450 staff. Operators were paid salaries of about $938 a month, plus commissions.

Workers specialized in languages tailored to target markets, using those skills to build trust before allegedly presenting fake investment opportunities and convincing victims to transfer large sums. Some people were victimized twice, Europol said. After losing money, they were contacted again with offers to recover their funds, then instructed to open cryptocurrency accounts and make an initial deposit of 500 euros.

The networks’ reach and ability to cooperate make them harder to dismantle, analysts say. “These are not isolated fraud schemes,” said Fatjona Mejdini, who leads a Balkans-focused program at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

She said call-center scam networks across Europe and beyond are increasingly interconnected, sharing platforms, victim lists, techniques, staff, and—crucially—channels for moving and laundering money.

The Western Balkans and parts of Eastern Europe have become fertile ground for such schemes, experts note, with a young, well-educated workforce facing limited job opportunities and scam centers often operating in plain sight as seemingly legitimate firms. Previous investigations into the call-center fraud industry have documented its scale.

A 2020 probe exposed an industrial-scale investment scam with operations linked to Albania and Georgia. In 2025, another investigation found that two call-center groups took in about $275 million from would-be investors. For law enforcement, the raids in Tirana underscore both progress and the challenge ahead: networks that can quickly relocate, rebuild, and keep exploiting cross-border loopholes.

Continued cooperation, investigators say, will be essential to keep pace with an industry designed to adapt.