The Guardia Civil team in Huesca has arrested 15 people and is investigating another 15 for fraud and money laundering offenses amounting to €160.000.
As part of Operation PLANMAD, almost thirty fraud crimes were solved, with the victims being residents of different towns belonging to the province of Huesca.
The detainees and those under investigation resided in different locations within the Autonomous Community of Madrid.
Agents from the Cybercrime Advisory, Prevention and Response Team (Team @) belonging to the Civil Guard Command of Huesca, have concluded Operation PLANMAD with the arrest of 15 people and the investigation of another 15, as alleged perpetrators of fraud and money laundering crimes, for a value of €160.000.
The plan developed to address numerous cases of technology-based fraud has led to the resolution of nearly thirty crimes in the province of Huesca. The 30 victims are residents of the towns of Aínsa, Barbastro, Benasque, Biescas, Boltaña, Fiscal, Fraga, Gurrea de Gállego, Graus, Huesca, Monzón, Panticosa, Sabiñánigo, Sallent de Gállego, and Tamarite de Litera, who reported various scams resulting in financial losses totaling €160.000.
MODUS OPERANDS
One of the most common crimes involved manipulating the emails of companies located in Huesca province. The sole purpose was to create fraudulent invoices for services rendered, altering the documents by including unknown bank account details. This allowed the perpetrators to trick the recipients into transferring large sums of money to accounts of their choosing. The agents identified a total of eight bank accounts used by individuals who provided their personal documentation to open these accounts at different banks. These individuals then arranged with other people to withdraw the money from ATMs.
Another method used to carry out the scam, known as smishing, involved the perpetrators impersonating bank employees. They would send text messages informing victims of unauthorized transactions on their bank accounts, prompting them to click on a fake link to cancel the transaction. This, in turn, gave the criminals access to their bank accounts. If the victim became suspicious of the message, the criminals would then call, pretending to be bank employees, to gain their trust and ultimately obtain the necessary login credentials.
In this province, a scam was also detected involving the posting of fake vehicle sales ads on online vehicle platforms. The perpetrators used these ads to obtain deposits for fraudulent purchase reservations.
Among the different types of fraud observed, one that has caught the attention of investigators is the making of telephone calls to hotels and restaurants located in the Pyrenees area, on dates favorable for high occupancy, posing as an electricity supply entity, on the grounds that said establishment had to regularize economic debts, threatening them with a cut-off of the electricity supply, the victims even making the payments of the supposed debts.
Another scam used by cybercriminals involved using instant messaging platforms to impersonate the victims' children. They would write to the victims from unknown numbers, urgently requesting immediate money transfers. Given the request and the possibility that the message was from their children, the victims would agree to send the money.
EXPLOITATION OF THE RESEARCH
After months of investigation, the Huesca Command planned an operation to arrest the implicated individuals, which lasted five days. Once investigators located the suspects in various towns within the Autonomous Community of Madrid, 15 individuals were arrested, and another 15 are under investigation. Of those arrested, 9 are women and 21 are men, ranging in age from 20 to 45.
One of the detainees had 18 outstanding warrants for his arrest and appearance in court, for a total of 332 criminal acts, with the requesting courts being the Courts of Tiu (Pontevedra) and Alicante, respectively.
The proceedings conducted by the Guardia Civil team in Huesca were sent to the competent Courts of Instruction in the judicial districts of Barbastro, Boltaña, Fraga, Graus, Huesca, Jaca and Monzón, with the alleged perpetrators remaining free pending a summons from the Judicial Authority.
