Police have shut down a fraudulent call center operating out of an apartment in a high-rise building in Tashkent's Shaykhantakhur district, the Tashkent Province Police Department said.

Reportedly, a 21-year-old resident of Fergana province with no prior convictions and four accomplices phoned people and told them they had won household appliances in a promotion run by Uzbekistan's largest online marketplace.

To claim their prizes, victims were pressed to transfer money to the accounts of the sole proprietors ALVION, MEGA TECNO and MEGA SHOP, supposedly as a temporary payment drawn from their credit or microloan limits, with the promise that the goods would be delivered afterward.

The group members had registered as sellers on the marketplace. When customers demanded delivery or threatened to complain, they sent cheap, poor-quality items or goods that did not match the order. Once the money was transferred, the suspects cut off contact.

During the operation, officers seized 10 sets of computer equipment, eight mobile phones, documents containing citizens' personal data and spreadsheets of credit limits, and two notebooks.

Police said more than 110 people had been defrauded and over 300 million soums ($25,000) misappropriated by the time of the preliminary investigation.

Investigators are now examining whether the group was involved in other fraud cases in various provinces across the country. Steps are being taken to establish the total damage and compensate victims.

Anyone who suffered losses at the hands of these sole proprietors is asked to contact the duty desk of the Tashkent province Main Internal Affairs Directorate at 71-762-21-35, 71-762-20-24 or 71-762-20-25, or their nearest police station.