The National Police has announced the arrest of around twenty people, including several members of the Trinitarios gang, for defrauding an amount of 429,000 euros thanks to the SIM Swapping method.
“In the operation, 16 people have been arrested in Spain and four in Switzerland,”most members of the Trinitarios band“, and they have been requisitioned”numerous computer equipment, a submachine gun, four shotguns and three detonating pistols“.
As reported by the organization in a statementthe operation has been carried out jointly with the Civil Guard and after three years of investigation, since in December 2021 it was detected that several members of the Trinitarios were obtaining money through computer scams to transfer those amounts to others members residing in Switzerland.
The agents’ first investigations managed to identify up to 30 victims who had their identities impersonated and whose personal and banking information was stolen with malware installed on their computer equipment.
From there, the mechanism was the following: “The detainees carried out non-consensual portability of telephone linesthus obtaining new SIM cards that they controlled. In this way, they intercepted the victims’ banking communications and accessed their funds using bank verification codes sent by SMS“, the Police reported.
In parallel, the detainees dedicated themselves to opening new bank accounts using “the identity of the victims, relying on false documentation and intermediaries, and then transfer the defrauded amounts and hide them in accounts under the control of the organization“.
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