The Civil Guard arrested, as part of a macro cybercrime operation33 people and investigated seven others in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia, Murcia and Madrid, as alleged perpetrators with varying degrees of participation in various crimes in the field of cybercrime, computer damage, money laundering and membership in a criminal group.
As reported by the Civil Guard this Saturday, as a result of the operation, several bank accounts were blocked and 133,500 euros recovered, which represents a third of the total money moved by the cyber-crooks, which amounts to 400,000 euros. Those affected are spread across Spain, although at least 16 of them reside in the province of Burgos. Those arrested and investigated have been brought to justice.
The investigation began last May, following complaints filed by several people living in Burgos, where they said they had been “cyber scams” through different forms. Continuing the investigations, the agents managed to determine the existence of a group of people involved in various types of scams, frauds and deceptions in several Spanish provinces.
Techniques used
Subsequently, officers were able to verify that the people involved used various and complex fraud techniques to try to make the work of the police more difficult. One of these consisted of contacting victims via the social networks to offer them financial sums that they never received in exchange for photographs. To do this, they first asked for money.
Other techniques were those of “Romance Scam” Methodwhere the victim is deceived by a friend “live” via videoconference to obtain money and/or help on their behalf, under sentimental promises or by arousing a feeling of pity.
Likewise, they were dedicated to fraudulent sale of tickets to shows advertised on websites, linked to the second-hand goods trade or even to the so-called “son in difficulty” scam, where the scammers pretend to be the victim’s son from whom they ask for a sum of money when they find themselves in difficulty.
Another of the scams used was the request for fake loans in the name of others or the scam called BEC (Business Email Compromise), which consists of deceiving by making transfers to obtain a final destination of the money different from that intended by the victim.
Likewise, they realized fake investments in crypto assets or they carried out sales and purchase scams or “phishing” in its form of “smishing” by sending fake messages to trick users into downloading “malware”, sharing confidential information or sending money to cybercriminals.
All these procedures require great knowledge and specialization on the part of the members of these gangs, as explained by the Civil Guard, which stressed that, in many cases, the immediacy of the reporting has been essential to be able to freeze large payments in time.
