Suspects arrested for scamming 600 people online for 1 billion soums

Individuals who defrauded 600 people of nearly 1 billion soums through social media have been arrested, the Tashkent Regional Main Internal Affairs Department reported.

According to authorities, the suspects, operating anonymously on Telegram and Instagram, promised to convert citizens’ credit limits into cash. They misappropriated a total of 1,032,000,000 soums.

Rapid response officers from the ’’Cybercrime Unit’’ apprehended a 2005-born resident of Ohangaron district, B.N., along with three accomplices.

Investigations revealed that the suspects created a page called ’’Limitlash Xizmati’’ on Telegram and Instagram, offering to cash out credit limits issued by microfinance organizations. Using a registered business entity, they carried out online trading and fraudulently took the funds from citizens.

Through this scheme, the suspects operated on online trading platforms using a registered business entity and fraudulently misappropriated a total of 1,032,000,000 soums collected from citizens.

A criminal case has been opened against the suspects under Article 168, part 4(a) of the Criminal Code (Fraud), and pre-trial detention has been imposed. 

Measures are now being taken to recover the victims’ financial losses, and initial investigative actions have begun.

It is worth noting that cybercrimes in Uzbekistan have increased 68-fold over the past five years.