Banking scams are a big problem for everyone, not just in Spain. For this reason, you have to be very careful when opening any link, an SMS, an email or even answering a simple call. The good thing is that the National Police continues its work to put an end to the different criminal organizations that are behind these crimes. For example, this state security body has just arrested up to 15 people who used the son-in-distress modality on WhatsApp to scam people.
Those arrested have not only used this particular modality to scam users, but have also used various types of fraud to commit this series of banking scams such as e-commerce, spoofing or phishing. The good news is that from now on there is one less criminal organization to worry about, especially since they were in charge of continuously using this particular WhatsApp scam.
15 people arrested by police
National Police agents manage to dismantle one of the many criminal organizations that are allegedly dedicated to committing banking scams. On this occasion, the arrests took place in the Barcelona towns of Sabadell and Terrasa. Although, this organization carried out its operations nationwide, not only in these two locations. During the authorities’ intervention, three entries and searches were carried out, and 15 people were arrested, including the leader of the organization. A person who, allegedly, acted as a ‘hacker’.
The investigation into this criminal gang, specifically, began in 2023, and all from a complaint filed by a financial institution that identified how one of its clients had suffered a scam due to the unauthorized use of their bank cards. From that moment, different procedures were carried out, which led to the agents being able to detect a first modus operandi that was based on the use of different applications to make calls to possible victims, impersonating the telephone number with the aim of gaining the people’s trust. In addition, among the modalities they have used is also the scam of the son in trouble on WhatsApp.
A gang that leaves 73 victims
As the National Police explains, “cybercriminals had various measures within the criminal organization to guarantee the anonymity of their criminal activities, highlighting that communications between its members were carried out through private chats on social networks and instant messaging applications.” In total, 73 victims of this gang have been detected, which has stolen up to 125,000 euros.
During the three searches, the agents seized 46,000 euros in virtual currencies, gold bars, high-end watches, a printer for making bank cards and more than 200 SIM cards and up to four automatic stamps from registered doctors along with falsified medical prescriptions. In addition to all this, “the organization maintained a complex financial apparatus that included a network of money mules distributed throughout the national territory,” as commented by the National Police.
