In total, 39 people have been arrested and 281 stolen documents have been recovered, three forged and 20 stolen driving licenses
The National Police has dismantled a criminal group that operated in the provinces of Madrid Y Toledo who came to swindle some 250,000 euros after supplanting the identity of 140 clients from a bank, whose documents had been stolen by pickpocket members of this network while they were traveling on public transport.
According to the General Directorate of Police, 39 people have been arrested and 281 stolen documents have been recovered, three forged and 20 stolen driving licenses willing to commit new crimes.
The investigation began last January after learning of the existence of an organized group highly specialized in banking and financial fraud, among other crimes.
the red criminal even had a group of pickpockets who were dedicated to stealing documents in public transport that they later provided to the organization, who used them to pass themselves off as clients before banks and open new accounts or purchase vehicles.
At the top of the organization was the main leader of the plot. Under his immediate command, there were people in charge of obtaining the documentation and its subsequent distribution, as well as the preparation of the work groups that were in charge of acting through the different bank offices.
On a lower step was the catchment apparatus, which rrecruited people who worked in bank offices and that they came to adopt appearances similar to that of the person they were supplanting.
These sensors also they recorded those who provided their bank accounts for the diversion of funds and/or cash withdrawalsfundamentally disadvantaged people whom the organization paid in cash or drugs.
The first thing the organization did was to check the current accounts of the victims by requesting a balance or making a micro-entry. Later they proceeded to modify the telephone and email, so that they “hijacked” the account, by having the security communications and use of their electronic banking.
Also, upon request of the global situation of the account, they carried out the cash refund of the money or the diversion to other accounts controlled by the organization.
At the same time they had a network of paid people who immediately took out as much capital as possible in cash and they transferred it to third-party accounts, with the intention of making it difficult to monitor and trace the money given the possibility that these would be blocked, once the victim reported the facts.
The organization had the help of other criminals who, through powerful computer equipment, were capable of preparing payrolls and work lives, in order to give support and greater credibility to the financial operations they carried out with the stolen IDs.
These operations were not only limited to fraud in banks or contracting online lines of credit, but also included illicit vehicle trafficking with the acquisition of high-end cars.
After acquiring the cars with financing obtained using the falsified documents, they resold them on the black market in North Africa before the non-payment to the financiers was discovered and thus avoid possible embargo orders that could block their departure from Spain. One of these vehicles could be recovered when they were about to embark it on a ship bound for Algeria.
The 39 detainees are charged with the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, fraud, false documents, usurpation of marital status and drug trafficking.