Those investigated, between 18 and 21 years old and arrested in Malaga, are behind 24 criminal acts located throughout the Spanish geography
Agents of the National Police arrested six men between the ages of 18 and 21 in Malaga as alleged perpetrators of 24 scams located in different parts of the national territory. According to the investigations, those investigated belonged to a criminal group that operated from the capital of Malaga, dedicated to fraud through platforms for the sale of products. The members, who presented their functions perfectly structured, came to swindle 7,000 euros for the alleged sale of a video game console, they indicated from the National Police in a statement.
The investigation began with the request of the Local Police Station of Cartagena for collaboration in the face of an alleged scam in the sale of a second-hand console, the alleged scammers residing in the province of Malaga. The complainant stated that he had contacted, through a platform for the sale of products, an advertiser to purchase the device, transferring the agreed amount to a bank account number, without actually receiving the product.
Given the information provided by the Cartagena agents, their counterparts at the Malaga East District Police Station began an investigation, and realized that they were not facing an isolated event, but rather, since last year and in various parts of the national geography , there were more complaints whose common link would be the data provided by the fraudsters –identity, email, account number and contact telephone numbers–.
The first comparisons in the police databases showed that, so far, there would be coincidences in more than twenty similar reported events, amounting to the sum of the damage caused to 7,000 euros.
After verifying all the related complaints, at the beginning of this month of February it was possible to identify and determine who the alleged perpetrators were, as well as the ‘modus operandi’ used in the scam. The data obtained would correspond to a criminal group, made up of six individuals, between 18 and 21 years old, perfectly structured in levels, who worked based on commissions according to their category within the network.
The highest level would have a man, with chief functions, who reported the greatest benefits from fraudulent operations. At the next level were two members, in charge of both inserting the product advertisement and contacting the buyer by telephone to convince and close the operation, giving credibility to the transaction through counterfeit parcel receipts.
The victims, convinced of the authenticity of the operations, made the transfers of the agreed amount to the components of a third and last level, who put their bank accounts at the service of the criminal plot in exchange for commissions of between 15 and 20 euros.
Specialized investigators from the judicial police of the eastern district of Malaga located and arrested, on February 15, all the members of the criminal group and carried out three entries and searches of homes, where numerous mobile phones and documentation related to the crime.
To date, investigators are aware of 24 reported events in locations such as Madrid, Malaga, Logroño, Oviedo, Molina de Segura, Almería and Teruel, among others, not ruling out the possibility of more victims of this criminal plot. The instructed report and those investigated were summoned or made available to the competent judicial authority.