Civil Guard dismantles cybercrime network in Valladolid with 10 arrested
The Civil Guard has dismantled a criminal organisation that used money mules for fraud. Ten arrests and €240,000 stolen from 22 identified victims.
Money mule network and cybercrime in Valladolid
According to El Confidencial, the Civil Guard of Valladolid, in collaboration with that of Barcelona, has dismantled an organisation of cybercriminals operating through the money mule system. The operation has resulted in ten arrests: nine in the Castilian capital and one in Terrassa, Barcelona. At least 22 victims have been identified in different provinces of Spain from whom a total of €240,000 was stolen, although it is estimated that many more people were affected.
Sources from the investigation indicate that there is an eleventh member of the organisation, a regular resident of Barcelona, who could not be apprehended because he was in the United Kingdom at the time of the operation. The criminal structure operated from Valladolid, where they recruited people to provide their bank accounts, and extended to Terrassa, where withdrawals were made of money obtained from the frauds.
The mechanism was straightforward: fraud victims were persuaded to deposit money into the mules' accounts, who would immediately withdraw the funds in cash. This cash movement allowed the ringleaders to disperse the money to new destinations without leaving an easy trail to follow, making recovery difficult.
In this type of crime, the money mule functions as a key piece, although it is they who benefit least from the fraud. These are normally people with few resources and low socioeconomic status who, in many cases, are unaware that they are being used to commit fraud. They only know that someone is offering them easy money in exchange for opening an account in their name and giving access codes so that others can manage it.
The financial compensation for mules varies according to the scale of the frauds: they can receive €500 or €1,000 per account opened, although payments as low as €50 or €100 are also common. Criminal penalties for this intermediary work are usually not very serious, which facilitates a steady supply of candidates. However, many mules are unaware of how easy their arrest is, being the weakest link in schemes that treat them as disposable tools.
When the fraud victim becomes aware of the deception, they can only provide the security forces with the account number where they made the deposits, which leads directly to the mules, who act as a shield for those who actually profit from the fraud.
Sources linked to Operation Marcopa/Whitdraw estimate that the organisation had recruited no fewer than fifty mules in different localities in Valladolid province. None of them are among the arrests reported by the Interior Ministry, being considered mere foot soldiers. The ten apprehended by the Civil Guard occupied higher levels of responsibility in the structure: they were in charge of recruiting mules, managing account openings and obtaining the information necessary to manage them.
The money that reached these accounts came mainly from two types of widespread cyberfruit. The first is identity fraud through phishing of companies that victims believed they were purchasing objects or services from. Those affected made deposits into mule accounts, believing they were the legitimate accounts of those companies, and never received the purchased goods.
The second type, increasingly frequent, is the "child in trouble" scam, typically carried out via WhatsApp. A person receives a message from someone claiming to be their son saying they have lost their phone and explaining that the number from which they are writing is now their only way to communicate. If the father falls for it, the organisation initiates a conversation where they invent problems and arguments to trap the parent and request significant sums of money on behalf of the son "in trouble". In some cases multiple payments of high amounts have been made.
In parallel, the Interior Ministry reported yesterday the arrest in Ávila of a woman allegedly belonging to a nomadic gang specialised in the tocomocho scam. The National Police arrested her for three fraud offences with amounts exceeding €54,000. The first fraud occurred in Ávila on 3 September, where the criminals obtained €10,000 in cash and several pieces of jewellery. The second took place in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, on 30 September, obtaining €38,500 in cash. Two weeks later, on 14 October, they struck again in Valladolid, stealing €6,000.
The investigation in the three locations allowed the National Police to identify the participants as members of a nomadic family gang specialised in tocomocho and estampita. It was only possible to arrest the woman, who has 36 police records, some for membership of a criminal organisation. Arrest warrants are in force against the remaining members of the group.
Source: El Confidencial