The suspects accessed the complainant’s bank account through the fraudulent use of his SIM card and diverted the money to invest it in cryptocurrencies.
The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia developed the ‘Swimher’ operation, an investigation established by investigators from the Benemérita @ teams to clarify an alleged telematics scam that culminated, so far, with the investigation of three people in Valladolid and Barcelona , as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of fraud, usurpation of marital status and money laundering.
The investigation began at the end of 2021, when a resident of the Murcian municipality of Puerto de Mazarrón reported to the Civil Guard that unknown persons had accessed his bank account and seized 20,475 euros.
Specialists from the @ Teams of the Civil Guard carried out an intense investigation that allowed them to discover the request for a duplicate of a total of 14 SIM cards to a telephone company, among which was that of the complainant.
These requests, made without the consent of their owners – spread throughout the national territory – allowed the SIM cards to be obtained, which, by postal parcel, reached the province of Barcelona at the hands of a first suspect.
Through the fraudulent use of the complainant’s SIM card, they accessed his bank account and, in this way, diverted the money to third-party bank accounts. After this, and to make it difficult to locate them, they invested the money in cryptocurrencies, a method commonly used by this type of cybercriminal to launder capital.
The investigation remains open as the existence of more victims and other people allegedly linked to the criminal network now dismantled has not been ruled out.
Those investigated and the proceedings carried out were made available to the Investigating Court number 3 of Totana, Murcia.
‘sim-swapping’
It is a criminal modality in which the cyber-fraudster impersonates the identity of the owner of a telephone SIM card to obtain a duplicate of it. To do this, they collect their victims’ personal data through other social engineering attacks, such as fraud through SMS, email or phone calls in which they pose as prestigious companies.
Once the victim is left without phone service, the new user accesses their personal information and takes control of their digital banking using the verification SMS that arrive on the owner’s phone to manipulate bank accounts.
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