The investigation into the sports betting scam scheme dismantled by the National Police in May in Operation Mursal leads to Iran. The investigations of the National Police Center for Integrity in Sports and Betting (Cenpida, specialized in the fight against match-fixing) have located the instant messaging application channel in this Asian country. Telegram where the network obtained the codes that allowed it to illegally access the satellite television signal before the images were broadcast and, in this way, make fraudulent bets with which it allegedly defrauded gambling houses of millions of euros.
The Spanish police detected the use of this sophisticated and innovative system in matches of the last Soccer World Cup, held in Qatar at the end of 2022, and of LaLiga last season, as well as in matches of the German Bundesliga and competitions of football from Asia and South America. Interpol and the European Union Agency for Police Cooperation (Europol) have issued notifications to warn of this until now unknown fraud.
In the case of Interpol, its managers have issued to the police of the 196 countries that comprise it what is known as a “purple notice”, a communication in which it explains the modus operandi of criminal organizations so that the authorities take “preventive measures.” In this case, the police agency “strongly” recommends that, in addition, “any information about investigations” in which this system appears, which it emphasizes is used by “criminal organizations with high technological sophistication,” be transferred to it, according to a document internal. In the same sense, Europol asks the EU police to share “any relevant case” they discover of this fraud, which it highlights allowed the plot to obtain “millions of euros of illicit profits.”
In Spain, the investigation remains open and around twenty people have already been arrested, including the one identified by the police as the alleged ringleader, Bogdan Vorovenci, a Romanian citizen with no criminal record who resides in the town of Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara, 10,000 inhabitants). ), and Juan Gayá Salom, one of the main sports betting tipsters (tipster) from Europe with thousands of followers on social networks. The main people involved are accused of the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, corruption between individuals in the sports field, defrauding gambling operators, document falsification, currency counterfeiting and money laundering.
Operation Mursal began in 2020, after detecting Cenpida bets online suspects in international table tennis competitions, a sport that continued to be played during the pandemic. The investigations, led by National Court judge María Tardón, first focused on Yavor Ivanov Andreev, a former Bulgarian player of this sport who lived in Spain. Through him, investigators reached Vorovenci, with whom Andreev allegedly exchanged information to bet on allegedly rigged sports competitions around the world. The investigations revealed that, in addition to the purchase of players – there are six footballers from Romanian League 3 teams charged in this country for these events -, the plot used two innovative systems in which it took advantage of what in technical language is know how delays (delays) of sports broadcasts to make fraudulent bets.
This delay with which the images of the matches arrive on the gaming operators' screens (between 20 and 120 seconds, according to the Europol document) allowed them to make dozens of winning bets. In the more sophisticated of the two systems, the network used satellite dishes 2.40 meters in diameter—more than double the usual size—installed in the home of the alleged ringleader. With them, it was connected to the satellites and intercepted the images sent by the cameras from the stadiums before they reached the television production studios and were broadcast.
To do this, he used codes (known as feeds) with which he circumvented the coding of the television signal and, thus, managed to receive it in advance on his own computer. Later, both he and other members of the plot bet on the modality known as “live” or with the English term live —in which the fees paid change value very quickly—which team was going to score the next goal, take a corner or receive a card.
These codes were supposedly obtained from an Iranian Telegram channel called Hack Sat Feed (short form of Hacker Satellite Feed) where users share them illegally. In its notification, Interpol highlights that with this system the network managed to “get ahead of the signal received by the gaming operators” and “bet on circumstances or events of which it already knew the outcome, eliminating chance and consummating the scam.” Investigations by the Spanish police have found evidence that they did so in soccer matches in Asian leagues, such as the one held in China, and South America, as well as in ATP tennis matches.
The second method used by the plot was to send one of its members to the stadium where the match was being played – a novel figure that the Spanish police have baptized as “announcer” and Europol as courtsiding— to report by telephone in real time what was happening in the field. The investigation indicates that the network used this system in several matches at the last World Cup. Among them, Cameroon-Switzerland and Portugal-Ghana on November 24; Cameroon-Brazil on December 2; and Poland-France and England-Senegal the next day. To do this, the plot transferred a still unidentified person to the Persian Gulf country.
Five 'announcers' in Spain
This system was also used in a qualifying match for the World Cup, which Australia and Peru played on June 13 of that year and which the Oceanic team won on penalties. The Police have also found signs of scams through this system in five LaLiga games last season. Specifically, Betis-Almería and Villarreal-Osasuna, played on October 16 and 17, 2022; Seville-Valencia, on the 18th of the same month; Celta-Getafe, on October 24; and Sevilla-Real Sociedad, on November 9. He also used it to bet on two Copa del Rey matches (those played by La Nucia, an Alicante team that plays in the Second RFEF, against UD Las Palmas and Valencia in December 2022 and January of this year) and one of the Bundesliga (the Berlin-Wolfsburg Union of September 18 of last year). Agents have identified five of the announcers used in these matches in Spain.
Europol highlights in its report that, to place bets online Without the alerts being triggered by the gambling houses and the police, “the criminal network used a large number of stolen identities.” On other occasions of value of what the European agency calls “facilitators —mules in Spanish police jargon—to create betting accounts, place them and collect the winnings on behalf of criminals.” The investigation has not yet revealed the money they managed to pocket, although the first police estimates point to millions of euros that were hidden in bank accounts around the world and cryptocurrency wallets.
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