The Mossos and the Civil Guard have participated in a European operation against a millionaire scam with the use of cryptocurrencies, as reported by the European Union Agency for Cooperation in Justice in a statement. It is estimated that there hundreds of thousands of victims since 2016 and that the fraud would reach 50 million euros.
The suspects belong to a group that would have used call centers in various countries and that they managed to get the victims to invest in web platforms controlled by the criminal organization.
In Spain, the investigating court number 2 of La Seu d’Urgell, the Prosecutor’s Office of Lleida, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos, the Civil Guard and a total of 33 officials have participated.
the suspects they presented themselves as stockbrokers that they could help victims earn large amounts of money through small investments. Those involved gained the trust of the victims, who ended up making these investments through web platforms controlled by the criminal organization.
The investigations began in 2018 and to date seven countries have opened related court cases. The agency Eurojust facilitated judicial cooperation in this case by establishing and financing a joint investigation team, set up at the request of the Swedish authorities and also including Albania, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Spain and Ukraine. The agency also facilitated the execution of international arrest warrants, European investigation warrants and letters rogatory in third countries. Finally, the operations were carried out this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Five detainees
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As a result of these operations, 15 searches were carried out in call centers: six in Albania, five in Georgia, three in Ukraine and one in Macedonia; as well as 27 other locations and five vehicles.
There have been five arrests and 50 hearings have been held for suspects and witnesses. In addition, more than 500 electronic devices, more than 340,000 euros in cash, several mobile phones, several bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, properties, identity documents and bank cards, among others, have been seized.