A German national linked to the international “Scam Empire” fraud scheme arrested in Georgia

Georgian authorities have arrested a German national linked to a Tbilisi-based scam call center that defrauded thousands of people worldwide. The arrest follows the Scam Empire investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which exposed the operation earlier this year.

The suspect, whose name has not been released by Germany’s Central Office for Cybercrime in Bavaria, was detained by Georgian authorities in mid-October, according to OCCRP’s partners ZDF and Paper Trail Media. He is accused of commercial and organized fraud, and authorities are considering his extradition to Germany.

ZDF claims the man is from Western Germany and has used aliases to put pressure on his victims, trick them and then even mock them.

The man did not respond to questions from ZDF journalists before publication. The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office also did not answer multiple requests for comment or phone calls from OCCRP reporters.

The Scam Empire investigation, published in March by OCCRP, SVT, Paper Trail Media, and 29 other media partners, exposed a call center operation in the Georgian capital run by a company called A.K. Group. The firm employed about 85 people and generated more than $35 million from over 6,100 victims worldwide since May 2022, according to internal spreadsheets obtained by reporters.

On paper, the company was owned by Meri Shotadze, 37, who managed a team of young, multilingual workers that used sophisticated online scams to defraud victims across Europe and Canada. Investigators found that Shotadze operated the scheme with Akaki Kevkhishvili, 34, though it remains unclear who led the operation.

After the Scam Empire report was published, the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office announced it had launched a criminal investigation and frozen properties linked to the alleged scammers. Records show the assets remain frozen, but it is unclear when the court will hear the case.