Cybercrime/ Group that defrauded Albanians busted, two Chinese citizens arrested

2025-11-01 12:57:00, Kronika CNA

A foreign group that was defrauding Albanian citizens through fake Albanian Post websites is busted. Two Chinese citizens are arrested. 17 phones, 1 laptop, 12 passports, 11 bank cards, 7 identity cards, 1 driver's license and amounts of money in various currencies are seized.

The Cybercrime Investigation Directorate, in cooperation with the Operational Directorate of the State Police and under the direction of the Prosecutor's Office at the Tirana Judicial District Court, following reports received from citizens about the sending of fraudulent SMS messages that imitated the official website of the Albanian Post, with the aim of obtaining the personal and banking data of users, successfully finalized the police operation codenamed "Fake Mail", with the objective of identifying the perpetrators and fully documenting the criminal activity.

As a result of in-depth investigative and technical actions, foreign citizens CF, 51 years old, and HY, 45 years old, were identified and arrested.

Investigations have shown that these citizens had entered the territory of the Republic of Albania on October 27, 2025 and had created a website identical to that of the Albanian Post Office, to deceive citizens and collect personal and banking data.

During the search of the premises where they were staying, 17 phones, 1 laptop, 12 passports, 11 bank cards, 7 identity cards, 1 driver's license and sums of money in various currencies were found and seized as material evidence.

Investigative work continues to fully uncover the incident, with the aim of fully documenting the criminal activity and potentially identifying other perpetrators involved in this activity.

The procedural materials were referred to the Prosecutor's Office at the Tirana Judicial District Court, for the criminal offenses of "Computer Fraud", "Interference with Computer Data" and "Computer Forgery".

The State Police reminds citizens to exercise maximum caution towards any message or page that requests personal or banking information and appeals:

Do not click on suspicious links sent via email, SMS or social networks;

Never provide personal information, card numbers, PINs or passwords on sites that are not official;

Always check the correct website address before performing any online action;

In case of doubt, report immediately to the State Police or the Cybercrime Investigation Directorate.

Call to citizens:

If any citizen has responded to fraudulent messages and has placed their personal or banking details on fake pages, we urge them to report as soon as possible to the Cybercrime Investigation Directorate, at the General Directorate of the State Police in Tirana, or to contact them immediately to report the case and receive the necessary assistance.

The State Police remains committed to protecting citizens from illegal activities in the digital space and to increasing public awareness on cybersecurity./ CNA