A police operation has started 17 people arrested in Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru for defrauding owners of stolen cell phones. A criminal organization that was engaged in sending SMS messages pretending to be the manufacturer devices to unlock them, they then took the opportunity to also steal the victims’ digital lives.
In the development of the operation, 28 home records. During these inspections, a total of 921 electronic devices, including mobile phones, tablets and laptopsas reported by the National Police and the Civil Guard in a statement.
The computing platform they used is believed to have unlocked 1.3 million high-end phones illegally stolenusing a total of 5,300 fake web pages.
In Spain, three people linked to the criminal organization were arrested in Móstoles, Leganés and ManresaThree house searches were also carried out, during which 47 mobile phones, six tablets and three laptops were seized, in addition to blocking access to fraudulent websites associated with the criminal network.
Nearly half a million victims
The criminal network had been in existence for at least five years and had more than 2,000 registered users. Investigators estimate that the number of victims is as high as 483,000 users: Chile adds 77,000; Colombia, 70,000; Ecuador 42,000, Peru 41,500, Spain 30,000, Argentina 29,000, as well as 193,500 others.
The illicit activity of the criminal structure dedicated to ‘Crime as a Service“It started with the theft of telephone terminals, which were unlocked by combined and simultaneous means.”phishing‘, ‘smashing‘ And ‘vishing‘, with which they obtained the access credentials to their victims’ devices to take over their digital lives.
The investigation by the Police and the Civil Guard was developed within the framework of a international operation coordinated by EUROPOL and AMERIPOL thanks to the EL PACcTO 2.0 program.
Once the entire criminal structure and its way of operating has been detected, a simultaneous operation in all countries concernedestablishing a coordination center in the Argentine city of Buenos Aires, where agents of the National Police and the Civil Guard moved.
In addition to electronic devicesDuring the searches, three vehicles, two firearms, 6,500 euros in cash, numerous computer equipment linked to criminal activity, two firearms, a drone, crypto assets and MDMA Pills.
