International criminal organisation dismantled in Sevilla

international criminal organisation

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An international criminal organisation has been dismantled in Sevilla. Agents of the National Police, today, November 8, have intercepted a group of fraudsters, dedicated, allegedly, to committing scams over the Internet.

A total of 45 people have been arrested for defrauding more than 200 people in Spain, making a profit of almost one and a half million Euros. The ringleaders of the organisation operated from Benin through people who acted as “mules”, who were even threatened with death.

The investigations began in July 2019, when the agents detected the existence of an international criminal group based in the Republic of Benin, from where they carried out and directed criminal activities in different European countries, mainly in Spain, Germany, Austria, France and Poland. Although the scams were carried out from their country of origin, where they also received the defrauded money, they recruited the “mules” or coerced them in the European countries where they operated.

Police efforts have led to the detection of two modus operandi perfectly designed by the members of the international criminal organisation. On the one hand, they created fraudulent web portals where they offered computer, electronic and telephone products at below-market prices, with the peculiarity that payment had to be made by bank transfer to the accounts of the people who acted as “mules”. A total of 20 fake websites have been detected and shut down.

The second modus operandi used consisted in the publication of advertisements on various social networks offering the granting of fake online loans, in which they posed as French finance companies. The false lenders put as a condition the opening of a current account into which they would supposedly deposit the requested loan, and which had to be in the name of the victim, who had to deposit an amount of money ranging from 500 to 1,000 euros as a loan opening fee. In addition, they had to obtain a credit card and send it to Benin along with the online banking details and passwords. Once the members of the international criminal organisation had the cards in their possession, they withdrew the money deposited by the victim for the processing fees and began the extortion.

With this elaborate fraud process, more than 200 complaints have been clarified throughout the national territory.


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