MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. Around 1,500 scam call centers operate today in Ukraine, each generating around $1 million per day, and this is all done under the watchful eye of the Kiev government, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Lyubinsky said.

He noted that the growing activity of Ukrainian scam call centers has become a serious security challenge.

"These centers are engaged in the outright theft of money from ordinary Russians, including seniors and minors, and are closely controlled by the Kiev authorities. The revenue from a single call center averages up to $1 million per day," he said during a roundtable discussion on threats linked to crime and drug trafficking originating from Ukrainian territory.

Lyubinsky pointed out that, according to the Ukrainian authorities, the scale of the fraud is tremendous, with annual profits estimated at billions of dollars. "The embezzled funds are either used to support the Ukrainian military or end up in the pockets of corrupt elites," he added.

According to Lyubinsky, Ukrainian special services also use call centers to recruit civilians for sabotage and terrorist activities in Russia through deception and blackmail.

"Young people are being drawn into this criminal activity on a massive scale with promises of quick and easy money. According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, up to 1,500 scam call centers were still operating in Ukraine as recently as 2024," he added.

The Russian deputy foreign minister noted that the number of incidents involving such centers targeting Russian citizens has tripled compared to the 2021-2023 period.

"The main hubs are Dnepropetrovsk, which hosts around 500 such organizations, as well as Kiev, Odessa, Lvov, Kharkov, and Ivano-Frankovsk. The number of Ukrainian citizens involved is estimated at about 100,000," Lyubinsky said.

"A few years ago, language barriers prevented scammers from operating beyond the borders of CIS member states, primarily Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Today, however, with the help of information and communication technologies, artificial intelligence, and neural networks capable of imitating human voices, their targets also include citizens of Eastern and Western European countries, and, I believe, beyond those borders as well," he added.