Payment card fraud ring exposed in Finland – link to Foxtrot street gang, €150,000 in criminal proceeds
Eastern Uusimaa police arrested three young men for payment card fraud with criminal proceeds of approximately €150,000. The network extended to Belgium and the United Arab Emirates.
Three imprisoned, network extended from Finland to Belgium and the United Arab Emirates
Eastern Uusimaa police have uncovered a criminal operation involving payment card fraud and two counts of aggravated money laundering, according to Ilta-Sanomat. All three suspected young men have been arrested and remanded in custody, and preliminary investigation into their cases has been concluded. The matter has been referred to the prosecutor for consideration of charges.
According to crime commissioner Lasse Lagerbohm, the fraud network carried out payment card frauds in various parts of Finland. The total criminal proceeds amounted to approximately €150,000, of which police and financial institutions managed to prevent approximately €100,000.
Main suspect arranged frauds on commission
The main suspect is a man born in 2003 from Klaukkala. He allegedly arranged payment card frauds and money laundering on commission for various organised criminal groups. The man recruited individuals fluent in Finnish who, posing as bank employees, got victims to log into fraudulent websites maintained by criminals. He also trained, instructed and directed callers in the commission of crimes and recruited money mules for the organisation to transfer assets.
Recruitment took place in online discussion groups focused on network fraud. Callers and money mules were promised commission payments for frauds carried out.
During the arrest, the main suspect had a ball-bearing firearm resembling a submachine gun and a knife. According to Lagerbohm, the man had just agreed with a Belgian "customer" before his arrest on a contract which the criminals themselves assessed would generate a profit of €150,000–600,000. He is suspected, in addition to payment card fraud and money laundering, of several violent crimes and aggravated firearms offences.
Second suspect directed operations from prison
The main suspect was directed by another man born in 2003, who was serving a lengthy custodial sentence for aggravated drug offences during the events in question. The investigation revealed that he relayed assignments to the main suspect and arranged connections with various criminal networks.
In questioning, the man stated that he was in contact with a person belonging to the Swedish Foxtrot street gang and had several other contacts with Swedish organised crime.
Third suspect has extensive criminal history
The third suspect is a man born in 2006 from Helsinki, whose police record is extremely extensive according to police – his background includes an attempted homicide. His role in the criminal operation was to recruit callers for fraud calls in East Helsinki, where he was known. The man's identity had already come to police attention in previous crime investigations related to Swedish street gangs.
National Bureau of Investigation and several police forces involved in investigation
The investigation was initiated at Eastern Uusimaa police through the National Bureau of Investigation's intelligence and situation assessment work. In addition to the National Bureau of Investigation, Oulu and Helsinki police forces participated in the investigation. The criminal networks uncovered in the overall operation extended from Finland to Belgium and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Ilta-Sanomat