Disarticulated an international criminal organization dedicated to commit fraud using the phishing modality
Joint operation of the Civil Guard and the National Police
It has proceeded to the arrest of 21 people and have made 9 records in the towns of Malaga and Castellón intervening computers, bank cards, a multitude of documentation, jewelry valued at more than 4,000 euros and 17,800 euros in cash
They have embargoed 78 bank accounts and several high-end vehicles one of them valued at 150,000 euros
Likewise, it has been possible to clarify a money laundering of five million euros
Agents of the Civil Guard and the National Police, within the framework of the operation CIAO-ESTRIBO, have dismantled an international criminal organization dedicated to commit fraud using the phishing mode, falsification of public documents and money laundering. The organization operated worldwide, being perfectly structured. The alleged authors gained the trust of legal companies through commercial agreements seizing, not only their business data, but also their bank passwords and email.
The operation began in the town of Lalín (Pontevedra) and in Jaén, before both complaints filed in both the Civil Guard and the Jaén Police Station. In this capital, a businessman claimed to have been the victim of a fraud worth 132,000 euros. On the other hand, in Lalín had received a complaint from a company in Pontevedra in which also claimed to have been the victim of two scams worth 23,645 euros and 3,479 euros.
An international criminal organization
For this reason, the investigators began to work on the aforementioned complaints, being able to verify that the persons who had filed said complaints had been scammed by Internet through the usurpation of their email accounts, achieving the theft of large sums of money.
Fruit of the investigation and the meticulous analysis of the economic, banking, fiscal and financial documentation, they located by means of technical and computer means to a criminal organization deployed internationally.
Diversion of money to bank accounts around the world
The alleged perpetrators, once they were made with the money of the victims, diverted them to numerous current accounts that the organization had opened through false documentation, having as final destination certain ceramics companies located in Castellón. In this way they laundered the ill-gotten money through exports of material that they sent to Nigeria.
Given the magnitude of the investigation, the agents requested the collaboration of different documentary specialists from numerous embassies in Europe and Africa, since the criminal organization had access to stolen and falsified passports from a multitude of countries in order to make the investigation more difficult. alleged holders of passports did not physically exist so it was impossible to locate them.
Likewise, it was found that the activity of this organization was carried out in Spain, Holland, Cyprus, Curaçao, Ukraine, Mexico, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Money laundering for five million euros
In the operation, 78 bank accounts were seized, locating and recovering a large amount of hidden money. Also, four home searches were made in Malaga where six people were arrested and a multitude of documents, computer equipment, and 2,955 euros in cash, as well as jewelery valued at more than 4,000 euros.
In Castellón, agents conducted two home searches and three in companies related to ceramics, arresting 15 people and seizing documentation, bank cards, 16,350 euros in cash and a high-end vehicle valued at 150,000 euros.
Once the count of the amounts supposedly obtained in an illicit manner by the criminal organization has been accomplished, it has been possible to clarify a laundering of 5 million euros.
The operation has been developed by the Lalín Judicial Police team, the Judicial Police Organic Unit of the Pontevedra Civil Guard Command and agents of the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the Jaén Police Station.
