Agents of the National Police, in collaboration with customs surveillance officials from the Tax Agency, have dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to fraud through the so-called financial beach bar method, the Madrid Police Headquarters reported in a press release. .
They made up a perfectly organized and pyramid-shaped criminal network, in which two interrelated groups with a common leader were integrated. Twenty-two members of this organization who carried out different tasks, among which is the ringleader, have been arrested.
After the operation carried out, bank accounts for an amount of more than one and a half million euros have been blocked, as well as the preventive seizure of 13 properties with a value of more than five million euros.
The investigation began in March 2022 after a complaint from a victim who claimed to have suffered a scam by having made an investment worth 55,000 euros. He stated that he had contracted a financial service through the Internet and that, after carrying out different operations with his money, he had lost all the invested capital.
As the investigations advanced, the investigators verified that this whistleblower had been the victim of an international criminal organization that had been operating throughout the national territory, since at least the year 2020. It was made up of two clearly differentiated teams that were in continuous contact, coordinated by the leader of the framework
A first team, made up of those in charge of capturing customers from the call centers anonymously through cold calls, that is, calls to potential customers who did not know the product. They offered them succulent benefits obtained through financial operations through the Internet, taking advantage of their ignorance of the investment systems used.
The second team was made up of those responsible for subsequently contacting clients to close operations. In addition, this network had members located abroad who were in charge of providing the computer infrastructure, and facilitating applications, web pages, and bank accounts.
Finally, the head of the organization laundered the profits obtained in the scams. To do this, he used companies with which he acquired real estate whose valuation exceeded five million euros.
Once the victim had transferred the funds to the bank accounts, the alleged brokers simulated making investments in buying and selling products, trying to keep as many operations open as possible until the victims' investment went bankrupt. In reality, the funds were transferred to bank accounts abroad to later distribute the money among the members of the organization.
During the investigation, the police managed to locate more than 30 victims who would have suffered economic damage of more than one and a half million euros. The operation has resulted in the arrest of 22 people charged with the crimes of criminal organization, fraud and money laundering.
A total of six searches have been carried out, both at homes and at the organization's offices, in which more than 30 telephone terminals, several computers, different computer storage devices and numerous documentation referring to financial activity have been intervened. In addition, in one of the registered addresses, a kilogram of narcotic substance and various material for its sale were seized.
For the moment, the investigation remains open, since we have ruled out more arrests or the appearance of new victims because the criminal organization made the victims believe that the loss of the invested capital was the result of bad luck or even a lack of injection of money from customers.
