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Editor’s note:
Corruption is demoralizing. It demoralizes those abroad who are helping Ukraine, and it demoralizes even more those who remain in Ukraine and see the full extent of the betrayal from the inside.
That is precisely why Ukrainians have taken to the streets in protest time and again. That is precisely why people support the work of anti-corruption agencies. And that is precisely why we at the editorial office believe that the only way to counter this demotivation is to tell the truth, even when it is uncomfortable.
Subscribe to gain a better understanding of what Ukrainians are really fighting for and to receive news you won’t find in other media outlets.
OUR LEAD STORY:
KYIV, Ukraine – Last winter Karina* watched people run around with clipboards, while other workers brought in a fridge with sparkling water to put somewhere in the office in central Ukraine. What looked like a scary workshop from the outside turned out to be a comfortable, neat space on the inside, with coffee machines, a kitchen, and other amenities.
“I’m Stacy,” one of her new colleagues introduced herself. “You will have to call me like that.”
Karina began to realize something was deeply wrong, as all the workers were Ukrainians using fake foreign names. She was right. The cozy office was a scam call center.
Karina’s experience is one of roughly 60,000 Ukrainians who may have passed through these offices, but it also shows something bigger.
At the beginning of August 2026, around 2,000 scam call centers were operating in Ukraine. Commonly referred to as ‘offices,’ they carry out telephone fraud schemes, targeting Russians, Ukrainians…and largely European citizens. Ukraine’s scam call center economy could allegedly generate around $1 billion a month.
On September 5, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, NABU and SAPO, revealed that the people allegedly protecting those fraudulent call centers were actually high-ranking officials at the Prosecutor General’s Office. According to the investigation, they laundered millions of dollars by promising such centers immunity from prosecution.
Anti-corruption prosecutors may have also been preparing a notice of suspicion against Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
However, on Monday night, Kravchenko left Ukraine, saying he was traveling on a work assignment to “brief international partners on the situation involving the anti-corruption agencies.” Kravchenko also signed a notice of suspicion against the head of NABU. Anti-corruption watchdogs consider this part of a systematic attack against them that began last July.
After the paywall:
How scam call centers recruit its employees;
What Karina did at her work;
Why it is hard to shut down scam call centers.
