National Police in La Nucía, Alicante, have detained a 44-year-old man who is said to be part of a criminal ring that ran pyramid scams that hurt at least 50 people around the country.
The arrest was part of a three-month investigation by the Cybercrime Unit of the Torrent Local Police Station (Valencia) after someone filed a complaint.
The woman said in her accusation that the criminal group had approached her through an instant messaging app and offered her modest amounts of money to write reviews of businesses. Once they had her trust, they told her to invest money with the promise of getting a lot of it back in multiple payments.
The agent’s investigation has helped them figure out the structure of the criminal organisation that the inmate was a part of, which includes numerous layers. The highest level is the boss or bosses, who are probably based outside of the country. The next level is the “recruiter,” who offers money in exchange for the “mules” sharing their information to open bank accounts and then transfers the money from those accounts to foreign accounts. The third level is the person who acts as a middleman between the recruiter and the “mules.” The last level is the “mules,” who share their information to open bank accounts and receive money in return.
After looking into the matter multiple times, they found one of the accused members of the group, who was acting as a “recruiter,” at a house in La Nucía.
While he was in his car, officers stopped him and found a briefcase with 17 mobile phones and 19 fake identification cards from seven different nations, all of which had his picture on them.
Because of all these things, the individual was arrested on suspicion of being involved in fraud, money laundering, falsifying documents, and being a member of a criminal organisation. Investigators also searched the suspect’s residence and found four more mobile devices that they say the accused man used to commit crimes.
The person who was arrested has a criminal record and has been taken to court. The investigation is still going on to get all the facts straight, and more arrests and additional victims could still happen.
Author: Derek Appleton
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