Two men were arrested by National Police officers in Alicante after they allegedly purchased a high-end mobile phone from a private individual who was selling it through a well-known second-hand buying and selling platform. The individual was paid €700 in counterfeit bills.
The officers responsible for the operation confirmed the high quality of the counterfeit, as the bills could be easily mistaken for legitimate at first glimpse in the absence of auxiliary means for verification, according to a police statement.
The incident occurred last year when a man reported that he had sold his mobile phone to two men and received 700 euros in counterfeit one-hundred-euro and fifty-euro bills. The seller had listed the phone for that price on a reputable secondhand products trading platform and had received an offer to purchase it from a man who contacted him and desired to complete the transaction in person.
The buyer, who arrived at the location with an additional individual, inspected the phone and informed the seller that he would collect the money after establishing contact in Alicante. The transaction was initially concluded when both men returned and paid the seller the agreed-upon amount in cash, specifically in one hundred and fifty euro banknotes, a few minutes later.
Nevertheless, the seller subsequently examined the bills more closely and suspected that they may be counterfeit. He purchased a marker that can be used to identify counterfeit currency and was able to confirm that the currency was indeed counterfeit. Consequently, he decided to file a complaint.
The investigation was conducted by agents from the Money Laundering Unit of the Alicante Provincial Police Station, who forwarded the banknotes to the Bank of Spain’s Investigation Brigade. The National Counterfeit Analysis Centre of the Bank of Spain issued an expert report certifying that all of the banknotes were counterfeit.
The investigation was initiated with the objective of apprehending the two individuals who unlawfully obtained the victim’s phone. A few months later, one of them was apprehended. Officers were ultimately successful in identifying the second suspect, who appeared to have communicated with the victim via an online platform profile that was specifically designed for that transaction.
As a suspected perpetrator of counterfeit currency and fraud, this individual was apprehended, along with his previously apprehended accomplice. The unit deemed the counterfeit banknotes detected to be “dangerous” counterfeits, as they could be easily mistaken for legitimate at first glance if no auxiliary means were available for their detection, as per the expert report issued on them. This was due to the quality of the counterfeits.
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