Obtained data from victims to post ads and scam other people
The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia has developed the operation ‘Cicloestafa’, an investigation initiated to clarify a series of scams to a large number of victims, which has resulted in the identification, location and arrest of a young man in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz), as the alleged perpetrator of more than fifty crimes of fraud, usurpation of marital status and false documents. In the operation, which is still open, Benemérita investigators have detected more than 70 victims of these crimes spread throughout much of the country.
The proceedings began a few months ago, when the Civil Guard detected in Totana a victim of an alleged scam over the Internet. The complainant informed the investigators that he had bought some objects through a well-known web portal for sale and purchase, that he had paid for their purchase, but that he had not received the purchased product.
After verifying the criminal acts reported, the first steps of the investigation allowed the civil guards to verify that it was not a simple scam through the internet, but that behind the facts there was a complex criminal activity.
The investigations carried out allowed the investigators to establish the main line of investigation on a young man, resident in Cádiz, who was allegedly behind the criminal act investigated and who apparently carried out a significant volume of crimes of this type systematically.
Complex technological research
Specialists in the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard carried out a complex and extensive technological investigation to clarify these crimes. For this, for example, the use, by the now detained person, of more than 50 different mobile phones was counted. He used the profiles of third parties to make product offers and to open bank accounts as holders, where he received payments for the scams committed, all of this to make it difficult to link him to the criminal activity now clarified.
The suspect, only 21 years old, allegedly used a sophisticated method to impersonate thirty different people and thus manage to create and dispose of 50 bank accounts in the name of his victims. Those same bank accounts were used to receive the money from the scams, which is estimated to be around 50,000 euros and which yields a total of more than 70 victims spread throughout the Spanish geography.
His ‘modus operandi’ began with the search for his victims on popular web pages for the sale of all kinds of objects. On the pages, he selected several advertiser profiles from whom, posing as the page’s technical service, he stole their access codes and personal data.
With the access codes to the pages, the now detainee allegedly published false advertisements for a wide range of products, ranging from video game consoles, kitchen robots and even high-value electric bicycles, using the identity stolen after the usurpation. .
In addition to all the personal data, he also seized the photos of the victims’ ID, which he used to increase his credibility with the victims of the scams and to open bank accounts in the name of third parties and thus receive the scam transfers without having no link.
As a result of the investigation, the civil guards managed to locate the suspect in a house in the Cadiz municipality of Chiclana de la Frontera and, after obtaining all the necessary evidence, with prior judicial authorization, they entered and searched his home, where they seized effects related to criminal activity now clarified as technological objects –mobile phones, SIM cards and computers– and blunt objects and weapons –such as an extendable defense, a machete and a taser-type electric gun–, among others. The search culminated in the arrest of the alleged criminal, accused of the crimes of fraud, identity theft and false documentation.
Collaboration with the Civil Guard of Chiclana de la Frontera
During the development of the operation, the civil guards of the Murcia area have had the collaboration of the troops of the Cadiz Command to carry out the actions in Chiclana de la Frontera.
The detainee, the effects seized and the proceedings carried out have been made available to the competent judicial authorities. The judicial direction of the operation has been developed by the Court of Instruction number 3 of Totana.
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