Where do the A.K. Group scammers meet?

In March 2025, “Monitor” and more than 32 media outlets published a joint investigative report about the fraudulent call center “A.K. Group,” where 85 people worked. Between 2022 and 2025, this fraudulent call center scammed over 6,100 people in Europe and Canada, generating more than $35,000,000 in revenue.

Following the publication of the journalistic investigation, a probe into the alleged criminal activities of the “A.K. Group” was launched under the articles of group fraud and the legalization of large amounts of illicit income. Based on a court order, the real estate, movable property, and company shares of the call center’s executives and agents were seized. The investigation into the case is still ongoing today.

The international journalistic investigation relied on 2 terabytes of leaked material from the call center, obtained by the Swedish public broadcaster. At that time, we discovered that the A.K. Group had at least 3 offices in Tbilisi: on Kavtaradze Street, Shartava Street, and in Dighomi. In 2025, we showed you how the fraudulent call centers operated on Kavtaradze and Shartava streets; in this investigation, we will tell you about the Dighomi office.

The executives move around in brand new, expensive cars registered under other people’s names.

A few months ago, “Monitor” received information that employees of the fraudulent “A.K. Group” call center are systematically visiting an office at 68 Mirian Mepe Street in Didi Dighomi. The source had seen our 2025 journalistic investigation and recognized the individuals frequently seen in this area—among them, the head of the “A.K. Group,” Akaki Kevkhishvili.

Based on the provided information, we launched a journalistic investigation.

For several months, we covertly filmed the area surrounding the office at 68 Mirian Mepe Street.

Today, we will show you how we tracked down the executives and agents of the fraudulent “A.K. Group” call center—individuals we exposed during our 2025 investigation, whose assets were seized during the probe into the A.K. Group’s alleged criminal activities.

Our very first visit to the Dighomi office yielded results. In the office parking lot, we identified several cars belonging to agents exposed in the previous investigation.

The car (WT100FK) belongs to Anzhelika Chkhapelia, a Russian-speaking agent for the “A.K. Group.” During our covert filming, we recorded Anzhelika Chkhapelia leaving the building multiple times.

Back in 2025, Anzhelika worked at the A.K. Group’s Kavtaradze office.

The targets of the scammers operating from the Georgia office were primarily citizens of Europe and Canada.

Fake advertisements were placed on Facebook, falsely featuring celebrity endorsements, urging citizens to invest in cryptocurrency.

Seduced by the convincing ads, people clicked the links, where the platform asked them to enter their contact details to receive additional information. Once the data was provided, these fake pages sold the information to fraudulent call centers for 1,000 euros per person’s contact details. After that, the call center agents would take over.

Leaked documents from the call center reveal that the agents monitored every move the victims made on their computers and phones. They had full access to the citizens’ personal information, including their bank accounts. Because of this, the agents knew exactly how much money each victim had. They frequently even mocked their victims.

The agents refer to themselves as “scammers.” Despite strict warnings, they sometimes called each other by their real names in internal chats. They bragged about luxury vacations, expensive jewelry, and designer clothes; they discussed their spouses and other personal details. By analyzing all of this and piecing the details together, we were able to determine the real identities of many of them.

We also obtained photos taken at various “A.K. Group” parties, where the call center agents were posing.

Anzhelika Chkhapelia frequently appeared in these photos.

At the time, we also discovered that Chkhapelia used a fake name—Marina Novikova—when calling Russian-speaking victims.

Along with the leaked documents, we obtained audio materials capturing the agents’ phone calls to various countries. In one such recording, Anzhelika Chkhapelia, using her alias, convinces an Armenian citizen to invest money in a non-existent cryptocurrency.

Marina Novikova (Anzhelika Chkhapelia): How are you transferring it, through an Armenian bank? Victim: Yes, I have 20 million (rubles) and 70,000 (dollars).

Later, Marina Novikova tells the client to download AnyDesk. Through the AnyDesk application, agents monitored what victims were doing on their computers and mobile phones. They could even see exactly how much money someone had in their bank account. They read their personal messages as well.

Marina Novikova (Anzhelika Chkhapelia): Can you download AnyDesk? I can’t show you like this.

After the citizen transferred $5,500 but couldn’t get the money back, the agent asks him to transfer even more money, promising that he will eventually receive the full amount. The victim no longer believes this. This is exactly when the scammer’s polite tone turns aggressive.

Victim: I invested 5,500. Marina Novikova (Anzhelika Chkhapelia): That’s fantastic, you invested 5,500 and made about 50,000. Victim: I didn’t make anything. If I had made that money, I would have it right now. This means I lost 5,500 dollars. Marina Novikova (Anzhelika Chkhapelia): Listen to me, Ashot, do you understand the reason why we can’t give you the 6,000 dollars right now? Victim: If I don’t propose the rules, I won’t do anything. Marina Novikova (Anzhelika Chkhapelia): That’s not how it works. Then sit down and invent your own exchange (yelling). Ashot, things will be done the way you say in your own home. The exchange has its own rules, you must do as you are told.

In another recording, Marina Novikova calls a 75-year-old female pensioner. She had already been robbed by other A.K. Group scammers. Despite the woman’s severe emotional and financial condition, Marina Novikova continues to deceive her, asking her to transfer additional money.

Later, a scammer from the A.K. Group’s “retention” team gets involved, introducing himself to the woman as a representative of a government agency. He asks the victim to take out insurance so she can receive the money from the bank. After this, Marina Novikova is back on the line.

In the parking lot of the Mirian Mepe office, we filmed a BMW (license plate – IX060XI). We had previously recorded this car at the fraudulent call center on Kavtaradze Street as well. The BMW is driven by A.K. Group employee Misha Bairamov.

Another vehicle we filmed in the Mirian Mepe office parking lot is a Chevrolet (license plate – VL999RO). We had previously recorded it in 2025 at the Kavtaradze Street office too. The car belongs to another “A.K. Group” employee, Valerian Gigauri. We also filmed Gigauri multiple times near the Mirian Mepe Street office.

We contacted Valerian Gigauri, but he denied working at the call center.

Journalist: You worked at the fraudulent AK Group call center, and now you work at the Mirian Mepe office. Are you still working at a fraudulent call center? Gigauri: No, you’re confusing me with someone else… (hangs up the phone)

To confirm that “A.K. Group” employees regularly visit the office on Mirian Mepe Street, “Monitor” filmed the surrounding area for several months. We established that they start work at 11:00 AM. During one of our shoots, we recorded “A.K. Group” finance department employee Ketevan Malashkhia heading toward the office.

We filmed Ketevan Malashkhia’s car (license plate – KK700MM) multiple times in the Mirian Mepe Street parking lot. We also recorded Ketevan herself on numerous occasions.

Ketevan Malashkhia is 24 years old. She is the financial manager for the A.K. Group and uses the pseudonym “Ashley Moriarty.” Leaked documents show that Malashkhia sends agents the personal data of potential victims. Ketevan Malashkhia, aka “Ashley Moriarty,” is also responsible for the company’s financial accounting and the detailed logging of the funds generated by the agents. She is the cousin of the A.K. Group’s real boss, Akaki Kevkhishvili’s wife. We also obtained numerous photos and video footage of her from various “A.K. Group” parties.

As we showed you in the previous investigation, the real boss of the A.K. Group is Akaki Kevkhishvili. It is highly likely that the company’s name, A.K., is an abbreviation of his name.

Akaki Kevkhishvili is 35 years old. He finished school in Baku. He bears tattoos on both knees indicating membership in the “thief-in-law” criminal underworld. In photos posted on social media, he has also posed with firearms. His name did not appear in the official documents of the “A.K. Group,” but the leaked materials from the call center exposed him. The call center agents called Kevkhishvili “boss.” It was in the leaked documents that we saw Akaki Kevkhishvili urging agents to put aggressive pressure on clients and extort as much money from them as possible.

Akaki Kevkhishvili: Keep all these clients under personal control. You have 4 clients with huge potential. Right now, your job there is just these 4 clients. Believe me, 80% of your time there should be occupied solely by these 4 clients, and you must make the agent do everything you think is necessary for these 4 clients. Lana Lemans (Lana Vakhtangadze): Yes, boss. Akaki Kevkhishvili: Please, don’t miss out on transactions so stupidly anymore! And turn off your emotions completely. It will get in your way. Turn off the euphoria when listening to a call too. Approach it only with your brain, without emotions.

We recorded Akaki Kevkhishvili’s cars multiple times near the office on Mirian Mepe Street. For his arrival, security begins a special mobilization. Before Kevkhishvili’s cars arrive, security guards position themselves around the perimeter of the office. One security guard gestures to another to take off his hat. The other complies. After this, the security staff start controlling the perimeter.

A few minutes later, two vehicles appear on the road with the license plates: one – AA100KK, and the other – AA200KK. The car AA100KK belongs to the head of the fraudulent “A.K. Group” call center, Akaki Kevkhishvili. As part of the criminal investigation, this vehicle has been seized. The price of this car, a Range Rover Autobiography, starts at 300,000 GEL and exceeds one million GEL. The second vehicle in Kevkhishvili’s motorcade is registered to Besik Kupatadze. The cost of this Range Rover Defender is also several hundred thousand GEL.

We filmed Besik Kupatadze near the Mirian Mepe office several times.

Mari: Can you step out, we have some questions… Besik Kupatadze: Who are you? Mari: I am a journalist. Akaki Kevkhishvili’s car is registered in your name, do you work with him? Besik Kupatadze: Why should I answer you? Mari: Are you helping Kevkhishvili hide his assets? Besik Kupatadze hung up the phone.

Akaki Kevkhishvili has only one car, a parking space, and a 300 sq.m plot of land in Zestaponi registered in his own name. Numerous properties are registered in the name of his mother, Mzevinar Kurtanidze. In 2024, Kevkhishvili’s mother purchased an apartment in a newly built residential complex on Petre Iberi Street, a parking space, and a private house with a plot of land near Aghmashenebeli Alley, in an expensive neighborhood, paying 1,825,549 GEL. An apartment on Mirian Mepe Street, where Akaki Kevkhishvili lived with his family, was also registered under his mother-in-law’s name. Following the publication of our journalistic investigation, all of these properties were seized at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Did he continue running the fraudulent call center? Akaki Kevkhishvili did not answer this question. Studio “Monitor” tried to ask Akaki Kevkhishvili questions back in 2025, but he hid from us then as well. The security guard who obstructed our filming at the time is Manuchar Getia. We also recorded his car in the parking lot at 68 Mirian Mepe Street. Getia is a former law enforcement officer.

Near the Dighomi office, we filmed another security guard we identified in 2025, Levan Gogia. Until 2022, Levan Gogia was the head of the Zugdidi division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department. Gogia was also present at the “A.K. Group’s” New Year’s Eve party. After fraudulently misappropriating the funds of citizens from dozens of countries around the world, the “A.K. Group” threw lavish New Year’s parties. Aside from Levan Gogia, another security guard, Lasha Tughushi, was at this party. We had filmed Tughushi’s car near the Kavtaradze Street office multiple times. We filmed Tughushi himself when he prevented journalists from working at the Kavtaradze office. We also recorded Lasha Tughushi multiple times at the Mirian Mepe Street office.

Lasha Tughushi (Security Guard): What would I be doing in that office, I’m telling you it’s the Navne building, and I go there to see my girlfriend.

At 68 Mirian Mepe Street, we repeatedly filmed a car registered to Akaki Kevkhishvili’s wife. This car was driven by Romeo Kardava, a security guard for the fraudulent call center, whom we exposed during our first investigation.

Near the Mirian Mepe office, we filmed agents Giorgi Gotman and a Belarusian citizen, Lita, both unmasked during the previous “A.K. Group” investigation. Lita denied working at the AK Group. Gotman did not answer our questions. Meri Shotadze, the official owner and director of the A.K. Group, also appeared on Mirian Mepe Street. Shotadze’s car—AA007KK—has been seized at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office following the publication of Monitor’s investigation.

Initially, Meri Shotadze worked in the Russian-speaking group, and later she became the head of “Retention”—a higher-level tier in the fraudulent syndicate. After that, Shotadze was promoted even further, and according to leaked call center documents, she ran the fraudulent scheme alongside Akaki Kevkhishvili. 38-year-old Meri Shotadze used the alias “Ksenia Cohen.” Shotadze had her own group of scammers, whom she called “Top Agents,” demanding that they generate at least $30,000 a day.

Meri Shotadze’s Telegram message to the group of agents: We need 30K a day by the end of the month, and until we process 30K a day, know this now, I’m not leaving work. You 7 strongest RET agents are sitting on this project. 30K a day shouldn’t be a problem for you at all, and I shouldn’t have to talk a lot about the same subject. Push your clients and process the money.

One of the chats shows how much the managers of the fraudulent call center care about keeping the company’s activities secret and the rules they impose on employees to ensure this. Meri Shotadze: The English desk leaves their phones in the small room, but your guys don’t. Christian has his phone at his computer, and so does Eric. This new guy completely blew my mind, what is this, forbid it! He doesn’t think he’s in a legitimate company, does he?

Meri Shotadze’s real estate and movable property, including shares in various companies, are currently seized. Meri Shotadze arrived at Mirian Mepe Street in a brand new, expensive Range Rover Sport. The car Shotadze drives costs around $150,000 and is registered to someone else. Is she continuing her fraudulent activities? We tried to ask Meri Shotadze this question and waited for her near the Dighomi office. We followed the Range Rover as it exited the parking lot. It stopped near the Ambassador Hotel. She did not answer our questions.

The next day, we returned to the office on Mirian Mepe Street. After our ambush with Meri Shotadze, the security guards were highly mobilized and spotted us quickly. We tried to enter the office and ask questions. The moment Monitor’s film crew appeared, security locked the doors from the inside.

Journalist: We wanted to speak with a responsible person, whoever the manager is. We are journalists from Monitor, and last year we did an investigation into the AK Group, headed by Akaki Kevkhishvili. We know Akaki Kevkhishvili works at this address, we’ve filmed him here several times. Security Guard: I don’t know who Akaki Kevkhishvili is.

We obtained documents revealing that a company linked to Akaki Kevkhishvili has been operating in Dighomi since 2022. According to the Public Registry, on November 2, 2022, a lease was signed with RTM Import LLC for a 450 sq.m space on the third floor of the office at 68 Mirian Mepe Street, as well as for underground and outdoor parking spaces. The owner of RTM Import LLC is Irakli Kvlividze. Kvlividze is the brother of Akaki Kevkhishvili’s wife, and he himself worked at the fraudulent AK Group call center.

In addition to public documents, we also found contracts in the leaked materials showing that the AK Group pays for the rent, utilities, and security for the Mirian Mepe Street office. The rent amount exactly matches the figure listed in the registry: $9,000 per month. To clarify details about the AK Group office, we also contacted the director of the company that owns the building.

Irakli Gabadadze: Ugh, they left my place a long time ago. I don’t know Akaki Kevkhishvili personally, but I saw something that was published. They were finished with me, they weren’t there, man.

We discovered that the company operating under the name A.K. Group is not the first call center where Meri Shotadze, Akaki Kevkhishvili, and other agents have worked. In the leaked documents, Akaki Kevkhishvili and Meri Shotadze discuss a company called 100 Marketing.

Akaki Kevkhishvili: Let’s continue this conversation in the evening. Meri Shotadze: I just remembered how you used to cut fruit for me at 100 Marketing.

There is only one company registered in the Public Registry under the name ‘100 Marketing,’ founded in 2018 by a Ukrainian citizen. Using this company’s email address, job vacancies for foreign-language sales agents were posted online. We obtained photos—specifically, GIFs—taken at a corporate party for this company, featuring the agents and executives of the A.K. Group, including Akaki Kevkhishvili and Meri Shotadze. “Monitor” also discovered that an investigation into the activities of 100 Marketing was launched in 2023, resulting in the freezing of the company’s shares. However, in 2026, this freeze was lifted.

Following the international journalistic investigation published in 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office launched a criminal investigation into the alleged criminal activities of the A.K. Group, which remains ongoing to this day. In order to identify potential victims, the Prosecutor’s Office sent a request for legal assistance to the Federal Republic of Germany. “To obtain crucial electronic data for the investigation (including the details of alleged victims), we repeatedly reached out to the individuals involved in the journalistic investigation. However, this yielded no results, as we were denied the information for unexplained reasons. Reaching a final decision substantially depends on the information and materials expected to be received from abroad within the framework of this legal assistance.”

And yet, statements from the victims in this case have been sitting at the Prosecutor General’s Office since 2025. During the preparation of our previous journalistic investigation, Swedish citizens who had been defrauded by A.K. agents traveled to Georgia and formally appealed to the Prosecutor’s Office to launch an investigation. Among them was a 69-year-old pensioner named Annika. She saw an enticing ad on Facebook promising easy money. That is exactly how she fell into the scammers’ trap. She received a call from a Georgian scammer who introduced himself as Anthony Adams.

Annika Gustafsson (Victim from Sweden): He seemed like a very pleasant person, he talked a lot. He said, ‘I have always wanted to go and see the Northern Lights.’

After Anthony Adams scammed Annika out of her entire savings—65,000 Swedish kronor—he convinced her to take out an additional 100,000 kronor bank loan.

Annika Gustafsson (Victim from Sweden): He told me that if I added this amount, my total Bitcoin would triple. He assured me that in just a few days, I would make an unbelievable profit.

According to official information, in 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia indicted 11 individuals in connection with the call center cases. Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvarakidze announced this in Parliament. Among those arrested in 2025 is the former head of the State Security Service, Grigol Liluashvili, who is accused of providing cover for the fraudulent call centers.

Giorgi Gvarakidze – Prosecutor General: As for the ‘call centers,’ it is, of course, a problematic issue. We have several ongoing criminal cases that are currently under investigation. I cannot go into specifics; we are investigating, and there is no need to discuss concrete details. But just so you know, in 2025, 11 individuals were prosecuted in connection with organizing ‘call centers.’ It would be helpful if anyone who has any information about this crime could share it with us. We would, of course, be grateful.

We wrote to the Prosecutor’s Office, informing them that employees and executives of the fraudulent A.K. Group call center are systematically showing up at the office located at 68 Mirian Mepe Street. However, the Prosecutor’s Office did not respond as to whether they had checked if the A.K. employees are continuing their fraudulent operations.

Meanwhile, 69-year-old Swedish citizen Annika is still waiting for the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office to investigate her case and identify the individuals behind this fraudulent scheme.

Annika Gustafsson (Victim from Sweden): When I realized that he wasn’t my friend at all, that he only wanted to rob me, it’s hard to describe—I was devastated. I felt stupid, deceived, and ashamed. I am 68 years old, I was a journalist… how could I be so stupid?