28 April 2025
The call centers operating under the #ScamEmpire — exposed last month by Qurium and 32 investigative media partners — make millions of phone calls each year to lure new victims into the trap and pressure existing ones into “investing” their life savings.
The vast majority of these millions of phone calls are routed through five VoIP providers, four based in Israel and one in Singapore. The companies claim to have robust KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures in place to prevent fraud, asserting that they monitor their clients and swiftly react to suspicious activities. However, despite these assurances, the VoIP providers bill scam call centers for substantial sums each year. Information from the #ScamEmpire” leak reveals clear evidence that these providers are very likely aware of the nature of their customer’ operations. They actively assist them by helping bypass blocked numbers labeled as “scam”, facilitating bank transfers from obscure fronting of companies, and accepting payments in crypto currency.
Despite the international exposure of the #ScamEmpire, the call centers continue to operate today. Leaked information from one of the VoIP providers, Squaretalk, shows that weeks after the release of ScamEmpire, they were still serving both the Israeli and Georgian call centers.
Learn more about the VoIP providers enabling the Scam Empire — and their disregard for KYC and AML procedures.
Forensic report: VoIP providers serving the Scam Empire
Contacts
Digital forensics: Tord Lundström <t at virtualroad.org> Technical Director
Media: Clara Zid <info at virtualroad.org> Media and Outreach Manager