Three cyber scams leave 55 victims and 3.5 million missing

In 2023, the National Police and the Civil Guard became aware of 25,540 cases of cybercrime in Castilla y León, eight times more ten years ago. Crimes that have skyrocketed alongside the rise of technology with a trend that continues in 2024. The proof is the three operations that the Civil Guard closed in a few months in Valladolid for fraud and money laundering crimes via profiles or websites in which nothing was what it seemed. In total, they made 19 arrests and at least 55 victims, who saw 3,560,000 euros disappear.

The first of the operations began at the beginning of the year following a complaint from a person who had invested in a site supposedly dedicated to cryptocurrencies. The page was wrong. It had been created by an organization which promoted it on the Internet and had attracted around fifty people who paid up to three million euros, which reached the leaders after going through a network of transfers between “mules”. Three people were arrested in León and Valladolid.

The second operation concerns the “love scam”. In March, a complaint was filed in Boecillo by a person who had contacted by WhatsApp and Telegram a man of French origin, “of good physical appearance and attractive”, and deceived him, had made payments to cover the costs of an inheritance which the crook would receive. He obtained a total of 51,800 euros and numerous income from other victims was detected in his foreign bank accounts. Up to three people were arrested for the plot in Cáceres, Vizcaya and Seville.

The latest operation resulted in five arrests in Valladolid and Cabezón del Pisuerga after an investigation opened in June in Huelva and Toledo with separate investigators. complaints for purchases that never reached your hands. They posed as a company selling merchandise, which interacted via messaging with its supposed customers, concluding transactions. After not receiving the products, the victims discovered that they had been blocked. The organization obtained a profit of 40,840 euros thanks to these practices in 10 months, reports the Government Subdelegation.