Call centre fraud allegations now point inside state institutions
What ordinary people had long been saying in private has now been publicly acknowledged by Lilian Carp, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defence and Public Order: fraudulent call centres could not operate without support from within the authorities.
A journalist asked whether there was a risk that someone in state institutions with access to strong databases was selling that information. Carp replied that he did not rule it out. He then explained why, in his words, this was “not so simple”. According to him, databases have several layers of security.
“For a certain person to gain access in such a way that no one else knows he has accessed it, that is impossible,” the head of the committee said. From that follows the conclusion that Carp himself stated: “Practically speaking, there would have to be an organised criminal group inside a state institution so that they could take this database and someone could sell it.”
In other words, the chairman of the parliamentary defence and security committee effectively admits that leaks of personal data from state structures are possible only with the involvement of an organised criminal group inside those very structures. One employee cannot quietly do it alone; a group is needed. And, according to his own logic, such a group may well already exist.
State databases appear more exposed than banks
Even in this shameful situation, Lilian Carp found what he apparently considered a “positive” point. He said leaks could not have come from banks, because some of them are much better protected than state bodies.
Unless, of course, a corrupt employee wants to make money. In that case, no security system will help. So while speaking about the holes in Moldova’s state databases, he somehow presented this as “good” news.
He then underlined once again that in certain state institutions databases are collected “and then sold through the internet”. He did not specify who exactly was selling them or to whom. But the context was clear: the discussion concerned internal structures with access to citizens’ personal data.
This is where the issue of call centre fraud becomes politically explosive. If databases are being gathered inside state bodies and then sold online, the problem is no longer merely about scammers with phones. It is about access, protection and possible complicity inside the system itself.
Carp says schemes are coordinated from Moldova, Ukraine and Romania
The journalist then asked where these call centres were being coordinated from. Carp admitted that sometimes it was from Moldova, sometimes from Ukraine, and sometimes from Romania. Yes, according to him, such attacks are coordinated from Moldovan territory.
“With certain persons who conduct this activity on the territory of Ukraine,” he added.
It is almost surprising that he did not blame the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin personally. But perhaps the problem has become too large to hide.
Carp also described the scheme. Those based in Moldova act against Romania; those in Romania act against Moldovaand Italy; and fraudsters from allied Ukraine operate against Moldova. Crosswise, as the head of the parliamentary defence and security committee put it.
“The largest sums of money taken from citizens were in Italy and Slovenia,” he said. Who took them? “Generally, call centres from Moldova. Those from the Republic of Moldova that operate on the territory of Romania in our case, most of the call centres were from the territory of Ukraine.”
He then tried to recover the situation by saying there had been arrests, though he did not add that action against the fraudsters had been forced by Europol. Even that attempt at justification did not go smoothly, because Carp also recalled that the fraudsters had allegedly been protected by a prosecutor general.
“And you saw, I think, the prosecutor, the former prosecutor general, involved in this,” he said.
Questions remain over who protects the schemes
What remained outside the conversation was just as important. Carp did not name the specific state institutions where such organised groups may have been created. He gave no names, no timeframe and no clear indication of whether an investigation is underway.
He spoke cautiously: “I do not rule it out”, “there would have to be”, “there may be”. But even in that form, the admission of institutional failure by the head of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defence and Public Ordersounds louder than any journalistic investigation.
The problem he describes has long since moved beyond Moldova’s borders. Yet, judging by his own words, it begins inside Moldovan state structures with databases that someone in power collects, stores and sells.
While some officials speak about “strong and free media” and a “resilient society”, others are now admitting something far more uncomfortable: without an organised criminal group inside the authorities, this call centre fraud scheme would not be able to function.
