A Guardian investigation has shown how a single group of call centres in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, scammed savers out of $35m. Victims were lured with fake adverts and news articles, often featuring celebrities, including the radio DJ Zoe Ball and the adventurer Ben Fogle, which they saw on sites like Facebook and Google.
The adverts promote crypto currency trading platforms where the buying and selling is all handled by AI, delivering huge winnings. But the platforms are a fiction – a front for the scammers. They don’t exist.
