Spain: Cyber-fraud network dismantled in Balearic Islands with thousands of German victims
Spanish law-enforcement forces have broken up an organisation engaged in defrauding internet shoppers from Mallorca and Barcelona. The operation resulted in nine arrests and estimated losses exceeding nine million euros.
Spain: Cyber-fraud network dismantled in Balearic Islands with thousands of German victims
Nine people have been brought before the courts following a police operation against a criminal organisation operating from Spanish territory. The arrests were made in Mallorca and the Barcelona area as part of an investigation that has been ongoing for two years.
According to information provided by Spanish authorities, the group attracted its targets through fraudulent sales portals where it advertised the latest generation mobile phones, high-end items and industrial machinery. Buyers who paid the amounts never received what they had purchased nor were able to recover their funds. Over an extended period, the structure succeeded in defrauding numerous internet users from various European countries.
The total economic damage amounts, according to police calculations, to more than nine million euros. Among the victims are approximately 3,500 residents in Germany who fell prey to the scammers.
The investigation began when various public prosecutors' offices in Germany passed on to Spain evidence of suspected fraud in internet commercial transactions. The specialist unit dealing with money laundering took up the case and discovered that the alleged perpetrators not only used fake e-commerce sites, but on certain occasions impersonated the security services of banking entities to gain access to business current accounts. A Belgian citizen was particularly affected, with a theft of 100,000 euros in one of these schemes.
To conceal the origin of the proceeds, the organisation had set up a network of 16 commercial companies with 54 people linked to them. One of these firms, ostensibly engaged in boat rental in Mallorca, was used to introduce the illicit money into the legal financial system. Investigators established that this company had no vessels, staff or physical facilities. Income from criminal activities was presented as payments made by German tourists during their holidays.
In one of the companies, the ringleaders had placed as administrator an individual living in extreme poverty on the Balearic island, using him as a front figure.
The main blow of the operation was executed at a luxury residence located in Sitges, where several members of the group held meetings. During house searches, officers seized more than 100,000 euros in cash, digital assets valued at 200,000 euros, gold ingots, high-end watches, jewels, luxury cars and leisure boats. A sum exceeding 500,000 euros had previously been blocked. The combined value of everything seized amounts to roughly two million euros.
The complexity of the case, with victims spread across several countries, necessitated cooperation with Europol to coordinate international investigations.
Information from: BILD
Source: BILD