The 27-year-old Latvian citizen, who was collecting money from the victims of scam calls, had been sent to Tallinn to operate the SIM box, as the criminal organization he worked for believed the chances of him being detected there would be lower.

The man's job was to maintain a SIM box – a device that contains multiple SIM cards from different mobile network operators.

SIM box fraud involves rerouting international calls through internet gateways and local SIM cards to mask their international origin. Thus, calls made from abroad can appear to the receiver to be from a local number.

"His goal was to go from rental apartment to rental apartment, staying in each one for two or three days. His job was to connect the SIM box to the power supply, hook it up to the computer system, establish an internet connection and then, when he received the order, he would change the SIM cards. As far as we know, he used SIM cards from two major Estonian telecommunications companies," said Elari Haugas, head of the serious crimes unit at the Police and Border Guard Board's (PPA) Northern Prefecture.

The man was caught after telecommunications companies began to notice unusual activity on their networks. The man had over 30 SIM cards in his possession and made hundreds of calls a day using the device. So far, there are two known cases of fraud that can be linked directly to the activities of the particular group he was working for.

"We know for certain that the main call center was not located in Estonia, and we also know which country the calls passed through before reaching Estonia. However, it is too early to talk about that in any more detail at the moment," said Haugas.

The man, who claimed to have been working in the construction industry in Latvia, initially stated that he had official employment in Estonia and that his job was to monitor network connections here.

"But that's the script they've been given, and these people are promised that if they tell a certain story, then nothing will happen to them," Haugas said.

The man was remanded in custody for a period of two months by Harju County Court on suspicion of committing computer fraud as part of an organized crime ring.

"We have reason to suspect this person of maintaining the SIM box, meaning that his role was significant. The evidence gathered indicates that without his contribution, these fraudulent calls would not have been possible," said District Prosecutor Evelin Ets.

Based on the initial suspicion, the man could receive a sentence of between one and five years in prison.

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