Spain: They dismantle an international group of scammers with connections in Latin America

The Civil Guard dismantled a criminal group established in the Spanish city of La Coruña (northwest) and with connections in Latin America, who scammed through technologies of the information with what is known as ‘invoice fraud’, through which they altered the bank accounts of their victims.

The group is linked to a International Organization specialized in scams known as ‘Business Email Compromise (BEC)’, a cyber attack designed to gain access to critical business information or extract money through email fraud, the Spanish armed institute reported this Saturday in a statement.

The assumptions criminalswho operated from a booth in La Corunawere dedicated to the investigation and collection of information, identity theft, deception, manipulation and, finally, the execution of fraud.

The main technique used by this group was ‘invoice fraud’, in which, using computer intrusion techniques, they altered the bank accounts to which they were sent.

In the scam process, the criminal group employed ‘money mules’, individuals recruited to receive money cheated in accounts in your name, and then transfer it to other accounts and cash it at ATMs.

Subsequently, it was transformed again into digital form through money remittance companies, thus facilitating its sending to a Latin American country where the leaders of the organization operated.

The investigations, which began at the beginning of the year, were coordinated between different Courts and Civil Guard Units, after receiving complaints from victims throughout Spain and Italy, including commercial entities, Public Administrations and individuals.

In the recent phase of the operation, four home searches were carried out in which Four people were arrested.

The total value of the scams amounts to more than 51,500 euros, between Spain and Italy.

The detainees were released on the condition that they report to court weekly and were prohibited from leaving the country.

The investigation remains open while the information contained in the seized documentation and devices is analyzed.