Scam: Ukrainian Style

RT (2024)

Film Review

This documentary concerns the shutdown and arrest of employees of the Milton Group, a phone investment scam run out of Ukraine that bilked 20,000 victims out of more than a million dollars a month. The scam targeted victims in Europe, Africa and Latin America, and the masterminds are still at large. Shutting down the Moscow operation was just the beginning.

The Milton Group opened its first call center in Albania in 2017 but relocated to Ukraine after a few months. It was the brainchild of Georgian-born David Tolua, an Israeli citizen who presently resides in Dubai. Yakov Kazelman, who ran the Moscow call center, is also Israeli, residing in Cypress and the UAE. He’s currently in custody awaiting trial.

One former employee, speaking anonymously, reveals his call center hired telephonists fluent in English and Spanish. They found victims via WhatsAp, Wyber and Telegram. Their modus operandi was to contact victims monthly to up their investment. Some got so hooked they took out loans and sold their apartments.

They pressured a Swiss couple (featured in the film), who eventually lost over a million dollars, to invest in worthless cryptocurrency. The filmmakers also interview a French victim tricked into buying fake cryptocurrency.

In 2018 the Milton Group open and office in Georgia and in 2020 in Armenia. They eventually established 17 offices in Ukraine.

Former Georgian minister Davit Kezerashvili, convicted of embezzling government funds, was also a major Milton Group investor. He currently lives in Cyprus.

In 2020 the Swedes and the UK investigated and shut down Milton Group offices in their respective countries. The operators subsequently opened offices in Tazhikistan, Turkey, Philippines, as well s new offices in Moscow. All employees underwent lie detectors tests and were threatened if they complained or tried to leave. A telephonist averages $60,000 a month and a retention manager $30,000-100,000 a month.

They continued to operate in Ukraine, thanks to a bribe Todua paid to Artyom Shilo, the head of Ukraine’s security services. They further assisted the Milton Group, by shutting down call centers run by organized crime competitors.

In addition to scamming investors, the Ukrainian government employed Milton Group employees to conduct subversive activities in Russia, eg making bomb threats against Russian infrastructure and creating a Telegram bot to threat Russian soldiers and their families for their participation in Russia’s SMO (special military operation).

Following investigation, Russia has detained 15 call center managers and seized all the Milton Group’s Russian assets. If they are found guilty, they will be ordered to pay compensation to roughly 20,000 victims. Russian law enforcement has also reached out to victims in Georgia, Germany, Austria, Serbia and Switzerland. They will pay their transportation to Moscow to testify at the trial.

The former Georgian finance minister is still in hiding.